


Thorns And Roses

by Animegirl300



Category: Shadamy, Shadamy and Amy, ShadowXAmy, Sonic the Hedgehog - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Marriage, Sonic Archie Comics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-05
Updated: 2014-02-05
Packaged: 2018-01-11 06:21:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 50,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1169718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Animegirl300/pseuds/Animegirl300
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ever since their fateful meeting as children, Shadow and Amy have 'hated' each other. But what happens when they find themselves falling in love, and with the world crashing down around them?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Am looking for a Beta Reader starting with chapter 12! :D

Thorns and Roses

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:..:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.

The Kingdom of Acorn was a prosperous country.  
Even during the times of war, and even when surrounding countries it were in the midst of a crisis, the Kingdom was largely unaffected. The biggest reason for the rising conflict was the fact that other countries had become discontent with their status; They wanted more power, more resources, more territory. The Kingdom of Mercia with it's long-standing alliance with Acorn was the only other growing in power. So while things seemed to be going well for the people of Acorn, there were still many people, as there always will be, who weren't completely satisfied. 

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.

The young pink hedgehog peeked around the trunk of a great oak tree, and heaved a relived sigh when there was no responding shout of discovery. She leaned back against the wood, searching for the direction she wanted to go next. Her name was Amy Rose, and she had just escaped from her escort who should have been bringing her to Castle Acorn.  
Her carriage had been stopped by the Royal Guards on their way up towards the Palace, and then she had used the distraction as her chance. Her governess had been yawning behind her large green fan, and the five guards who had accompanied her were on the opposite side of the horse-drawn couch. So as quietly as possible she'd unclipped her door, and bolted as fast as her little legs could carry her.

It had been amusing in the next few minutes when the sentry began to realize what had happened, but they were too late to stop her.  
She frowned at the vegetation about her at the thought of having to go back. Back to her escorts and governess, and back to the old nobles and mentors.  
She hated always having to meet with old people; having to pretend she was a nice little lady to win the approval of some snotty rich jerks that she would never see again. Today she and her father were to meet with almost all of his political rivals, as well as some friends that her father had fought with in the Great War. She was excited for the banquet and the promise of food, even the thought of dancing and dressing up. However, she couldn't stand those old bats who would look down their noses, complaining about her posture and how uncouthly excitable she would be among members of her own age. She gave another sigh just as she heard a noise from her far left. 

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Under the shade of a small bush close to the forest floor, a young male hedgehog had sprawled out on the grass, lazily staring at a book rested on his chest. His long black quills stuck out in opposite directions at the back of his head, red stripes highlighting their sharpness. He had come to the forest to escape from the castle. He hated having to sit down in a stuffy old study, being lectured by some old man about matters of little interest to his young mind. He would much rather stay out here, free to do what he wished, although usually he would end up reading anyway. It was unfortunate. Reading put him to sleep easily, as the only books at his dispense were for instructional purposes. Yawning he stared towards the orange sky, wishing he had better material to work with. To take his mind off of things he'd rather not dwell on. Instead he would have to settle for being slowly put to sleep.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Amy ran through the forest, noting with annoyance as she glared down at the dress she had to clutch in her hands how hard it was making her escape. It kept getting stuck on branches and when she wasn't holding it up she would trip over the ends.  
She could almost picture the group of guards behind her. They had caught her by surprise earlier just when she thought she'd gotten away and they were sure to be gaining up on her by now. She glanced back quickly and when she thought she saw figures in the distance, she took a sharp detour off the trail. She almost rolled to heap as she ran down the slope, trying to avoid hitting a tree as she met even ground. For a moment she paused as she heard the group run right pass her, still following the trail.  
"Great!" she thought happily.  
She stood up and sprinted forward, listening for more pursuers as she gained more distance from the sentries. Up ahead through the trees she thought she could see a small creek, and she felt a spark of optimism. If she could get across that, then she would be home free for the rest of the day! The creek was coming closer into view. She was only ten feet away!

Then suddenly the world was yanked from under her and stilled itself as she felt her foot catch onto something very soft, hearing a loud "Ouch!"  
Amy felt herself falling in slow motion, as her only means of escape disappeared. For she had to be caught!  
As she landed in the dirt, she rolled and looked over her shoulder at whatever it was had caught her and was quite shocked to find it wasn't a guard; it was only another hedgehog.

She scrambled to her feet, glancing around as she realized that the other hedgehog was holding his side in pain.  
"Oh no! I'm so, so, so sorry! Are-are you okay?" she asked, kneeling down as she mentally kicked herself!  
Her concern was short lived however.

Angrily the boy jumped to his feet, glaring at her while rubbing at the soreness of his side.  
"Does it look like I'm okay?! Learn to watch where your going, fool!"  
The worry and guilt she had had for this boy was instantly lost, and in it's place arrived anger at the accusing finger he now pointed towards her. Sure, she had injured him, and it was certainly her fault for not paying attention, but at least he could be a gentleman about it! Just who did this black and red hedgehog think he is?! 

Instead of apologizing she glared right back.  
"Well excuse me!" she shouted, jabbing him in the chest heatedly. "I wasn't the who was lying in the middle of the ground!"  
The boy blinked as he found himself being pointed back by the little pink she-hog. Just who did she think she was, going around kicking innocent people without even feeling sorry!  
"At least I have enough sense to look where I'm going!" He shouted angrily.  
"But obviously not enough sense to watch where you're lying down!"  
"I'm not the one going around stepping on people!"  
"At least I don't start yelling at innocent people over accidents!" she yelled, nose pointed to the air.  
"Innocent!? You stepped on me!"  
"It was an accident, you jerk!"  
"No, you're the jerk!"  
"I'll show YOU who the jerk is!" she hissed.

She lunged like a cat, jumping the boy hedgehog down to the ground with several good blows to the cheek. Soon, they were both rolling and punching, grabbing hair, and scratching in a merciless brawl. They were so busy fighting, in fact, they didn't even hear the thunder of horses as the Royal Guard appeared. Their leader, a teal colored hedgehog jumped off his steed and grabbed both children by their shirt collars, yanking them off their feet.  
"Just what, pray tell, do you think you are doing out here!?"  
In fear the two children froze and looked up.  
It was Amy Rose's cousin and captain of the guard, Rob'O the hedgehog.

"Rob! It's so great to see you. Nice weather we're having huh?"  
With a guilty smile Amy posed a look of innocence that was largely ruined by the bruise on her cheek and messy twig-littered hair. Instead Rob's face was frozen in rage and she hung her head in remorseful defeat. 

"You two should be ashamed of yourselves. We have been looking all over for you two for an entire evening, and here we find you, the son and daughter of two of the kingdoms most respected knights, fighting like a pack of savages. Like silly children!"  
'We ARE children' Amy thought huffily, although wisely she kept her mouth shut. It took quiet a bit to get her cousin angry at her, but now he was incensed.  
"And you!"  
Rob turned on the boy who had just a second ago been smirking with evil victory.  
"I know your father, and I wonder just what he will say when he find out you've been fighting, much less with a young girl! It's disgraceful! You must know better than that?!"  
Shadow scowled at a nearby tree as the guard dragged them by the arms up the slope to the horsemen.  
He already had an idea of what his father might say. 

"When we get to the castle both of you shall go straight to your rooms immediately. Just wait until you parents hear about this."  
The children nodded behind him before immediately glaring at each other as Shadow was horsed with a separate guard, and Amy was held by her cousin. Every once in a while when Rob wasn't looking they would spit their tongues or try to throw leaves at each other from passing branches.

After several minutes they could see the castle towering high above them, and to their dismay their parents were already at the front gate, and none of them looked very happy. 

Sir Malcolm Robotnik, Shadow's father, with his serious face, and black and red color instantly spoke to whom Shadow belonged to. His wife standing beside him, on the other hand, was orange and with sharp golden eyes. The two stood straight backed and regal as they watched the group approach, and Shadow began to shrink into himself as they approached.

Lord Rose was a red hedgehog whose usual merry green eyes were turned into a disappointed frown. His wife, white furred and red eyed also looked uncharacteristically upset as her daughter was brought to them.  
Gingerly the two children slid off from their escorts, and marched towards their parents under the disapproving looks of the Lords and Ladies and sentries.

Shadow's father barely had to say anything to his son; the look he was giving him was enough.  
As Shadow walked past his father towards the door he glared at Amy angrily, only for her to stick her tongue out at him. Unfortunately for her, Amy's dad caught the action.  
"Amy, go to your room."  
"Yes, sir!" she squeaked, running ahead.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.

With a collective sigh the four adults watched as the two troublemakers disappeared into the gates.  
"Children these days. I don't know what has gotten into them! We would never think of behaving like that when we were young," Lord Rose exclaimed.  
"Indeed," Lord Robotnik replied with raised brow.

With a smirk Lady Rose looked over towards Lady Robotnik as she took her husbands arm.  
"Do you not think it is funny, how our husbands never seem to remember what they were like as children, Jasmine?"  
"Indeed." Lady Robotnik said with a graceful smile. "If my memory serves correctly, these two were much worse."  
Malcolm paused at that with a raised brow. "Just do you mean by that?"  
"You honestly don't remember the first time _we_ met?"  
"Indeed I cannot! I am sure I acted with grace and sophistication!"  
His wife gave a hearty laugh that echoed in the hallway of the great Castle of Acorn.  
"How could you forget, my dear? The day that we met you were such a brute that I had to give you a good thrashing!"  
Lady Rose turned to smirk at her husband.  
"Oh, that sounds like a magnificent story. Quite similar to our first introduction, hmm Albert?"

"It was very amusing actually; I had accidentally bumped into him near the moat. To this day I can never forget the face he made! Once he'd dragged himself out he began shouting and causing such a ruckus! Then the next thing we knew we were duking it out right in front of the whole court!"  
"I do not remember this ever happening." Lord Malcolm exclaimed, turning his nose.  
"Of course not my dear, you're much too pigheaded."  
They all added to a chorus of laughter.

"Maybe we should keep an eye on this new revelation." Lady Rose said, scratching her chin in thought.  
Lord Rose made a face as they followed along the spiraling stairwell. "Oh dear, my daughter is not yet ten and already her mother is thinking of match-making. How will I survive?"  
Amy's mom laughed as she glanced out the window at the darkening sky.  
"I shall have to put that thought away for now. We must go and get ready for the banquet."  
"Of course, We shall see you there, our dear friends."  
They waved their good byes and the Rose parents went up to their chambers. The Robotniks paused on the next flight before their rooms.  
"Do you truly think that this incident will mean something in the future?" Malcolm asked thoughtfully.  
"It's possible. You know how it is with children. They may provoke and argue as young ones, but it is all just a show of passion; and we know how passionate our dear Shadow is. Do you think I'm wrong?"  
"I cannot be to sure, but, it is never too early to be searching for a match; Lord knows how hard it is to find the right one anymore, and Shadow will not be a child forever. It might be the most advantageous prospect." "That, and she's the daughter of two of our oldest friends and we know she is coming from a well-standing household," Jasmine replied,her eyes practically sparkling with mischief. "Yes, but it is Shadow who will be the one to worry over. Lets not forget; he's not completely over Maria."  
At the thought the Lady Robotnik wilted. "You're right; Oh, I do hope he'll be okay. We brought him along to keep his mind off of what happened. He still blames himself you know? We were all fond of Maria, but we cannot let her death hold him back for too long, and four years is a long time to grieve."  
As Lord Robotinik paused to glance at the setting sun in the distance, they stood for a moment in silence before the window. Lady Robotnik know most that her husband was just like his son; and he was not the only one who blamed the self for what happened all those years ago. Quietly the Lady brought her arm around him, pulling him along and out of his thoughts.  
"Come love, We better go and get ready for the banquet."

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.


	2. Chapter 2

Thorns and Roses 

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:..:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:..:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Amy sighed as she sat between her mother and father at the massive dinning table in the Grand hall of Castle Acorn.  
The banquet had begun, and yet she was feeling down.  
Ladies and Gentlemen paraded around the dance floor; the adults were talking together, the ladies fanned themselves and hid their smiles and laughter, gossiping and greeting each other in equal measure, and others were eating.  
She watched enviously as a couple of younger children chased after each other, their mothers shouting for them to slow down, before she picked at her plate piled with her favorite foods.  
Her mother was having an animated conversation with a lady next to her, and her dad was laughing with some of the men.  
She hadn't been paying attention to the conversation until she heard her father exclaim,"Ahh, there you are Lord Malcolm, I was wondering if you would ever come down!"  
She glanced up just as her least favorite person in the world sat down in the empty seat across from her and groaned as she realized that she had noticed the empty chairs earlier but hadn't given them a second thought.  
Shadow glared at her across the table while their parents were greeted.  
"Say hello Amy." Her mother told her cheerfully.  
She glared back at the other hedgehog before turning to his parents and, beaming innocently, told them "Hello and good evening."  
"Oh, how precious your daughter is!" Lady Robotnik cooed before pulling one of Shadow's ears at the chortling sound he had failed to hide behind his hand.  
"I do hope you would forgive Shadow for his behavior this morning, young lady, sometimes he is such a child."  
Now it was Amy's turn to sneer as the black hedgehog grimaced.

Throughout dinner the two children would throw nasty looks at each other and sometimes pieces of food under the notice of the adults until Amy politely asked to be excused.  
"Oh, sure honey; Why don't you and Shadow go and meet with some of the other children?" Lady Alicia Rose suggested, oblivious to the horrified looks from younger eyes.  
"That's a splendid idea! Shadow go and play nicely with Amy, and make sure you stick together; you are her escort for the evening."  
Shadow grimaced, placing down his fork next to his unfinished meal. "Yes mother," he said through tightly gritted teeth. At the expectant looks from her elders Amy turned with a huff and started off towards the court yard. 

The Courtyard of Castle Acorn was just as fashionable as the rest of the Palace. It's great expanse of white rose bushes neatly cut into arches along the walk-ways; the tall flower trees that curtained the stone walls that defended the peaceful yards, the miniature gazebos neatly tucked under the tall willows all connected by the thread of bridges and walkways over the tiny stream that flowed between them, it felt slightly secluded, with only a few older couples walking along the gardens.

It was peaceful, and beautiful, and Amy would have enjoyed it more immensely if it weren't for the presence of her company and the object of her discontentment.  
She sniffed at the flowers and ran between the bushes, between searching for the cause of her coming out here, but Shadow only followed silently, ignoring her as he swung at the vegetation with a stick. He acted as if she weren't there and it irked her even if she thought she should be pleased that he wasn't forcing any conversation. After all, she'd already decided that she disliked him immensely, why should she care if he ignored her as well?  
At one point while smelling some particularly beautiful flowers, she glanced at him from the corner of her eye, and frowned.  
"Why don't you just go away?"  
She was met with a heavy glare.  
"I have been ordered to stay with you. Stupid girl." He muttered under his breath.  
"Well, cant you 'stick with me' at a further distance? You're invading my personal space!"  
"Look, I don't want to be here as much as you don't want me-"  
He was cut off suddenly as she suddenly grabbed his arm and dragged him with her behind some bushes.  
"Shush!"  
"What are you doing?" he hissed, angrily swatting at a branch in his face."  
"Be quiet or he'll see us!"  
"Who?"  
But she didn't answer. She was staring between the bushes, trying to keep her head down.  
Quirking his brow he looked over too, searching for what she was staring at. And then he understood:

It was another young hedgehog, a blue one that he had met already today.  
A hedgehog named Sonic.  
Shadow hated that guy.  
They hadn't said one word to each other but from the first point of eye contact the distaste had been immediate. And next to Sonic the Hedgehog was another person giggling happily: it was a little girl chipmunk that everyone knew: she was the crown princess. Princess Sally Acorn.  
He glanced at Amy who was preoccupied staring at them, her lip quivering.  
Shadow rolled his eyes before settling against the hedge and staring pointedly at a tree in front of him...  
"If you like him so much, why don't you just go up and tell him?"  
She glanced at him as if she just realized he was there and then turned to settle back against the bush sadly.  
"There'd would be no point."  
"And why not?"  
"He wouldn't like me."  
Shadow smirked at that; he didn't like her very much himself. Maybe if she acted more like a ladylike-,  
But then when glanced at her to say so, her sad expression made him realize with a jolt of guilt that there were tears starting to build up in her eyes.   
'Oh great! Now she's gonna start crying!'  
He gritted his teeth. He hated seeing women crying. Always had.

Beside him the tears started to fall; even when she put her face on her knees that didn't seem to help.  
Uncomfortably he weighted his options. He could just go and leave her alone, but a little bit of him was starting to feel guilty. Dare he do something to cheer her up? The prospect was not a great one considering how much trouble she'd been all day.  
However, seeing her just sitting there crying just wasn't bearable so very unenthusiastically and with much hesitation, he brought his arm up and placed it on her shoulder. Amy's eye blinked open as he pulled her towards himself, and she sniffled at what was turning out to be a very comforting hug.  
She felt her face reddening, that the boy who she'd decided was a complete and utter brute was willing to do such a thing! But here they were, sitting there and hugging.  
"Stop crying," He muttered to her surprise, his face turned up and away from her gaze. After Amy's sniffles had subsided she sat up wiping her eyes.

"T-thank you." She mumbled, refusing to look directly at the hedgehog beside her.  
"Hmph. You're still very stupid."  
"Say what?!" She exclaimed, swinging her head back.  
He glared at her with a look of such annoying superiority that she almost slapped him.  
"I said that you were stupid: chasing around some loser like Sonic. Peh! Who'd cry over someone like that?  
"Y-You shut up about Sonic!"  
"Or what? Are you gonna cry at me?" He sneered.  
"You... you are brute! A brute I say!"  
She jumped up and stomped at the ground angrily before running off towards the Great Hall.  
Shadow watched her go before leaning back on the tree behind him, yawning with a bored look towards night sky.  
To think that he'd been put through so much trouble; and all for some little girl!  
But, he thought as he settled back down, at least she'd stopped crying.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.

The rest of the night passed without much incident. Amy continued sulking and Shadow continued avoiding until the party had ended and it was time to part ways. Grudgingly they were forced to give their goodbyes, Shadow pretending to gag after having to kiss Amy's hand goodnight. But as much as the two complained at the mere reminder of each other for the entire month afterwards, the seasons began to change and the years passed, rubbing away at older memories of meetings and replaced by studies and training and the humdrum of everyday life. It would be many years before either hedgehog would see the other again.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Sunlight streamed from the open window and through a crack in the curtains that danced over a light summer's breeze. The room had yet to change even after the three years of being assigned to the Rose Family for gatherings at Castle Acorn. While they were kept clean, time seemed to stand still in that bedroom.

Amy Rose squirmed under the covers away from the glare of the sun. She was hardly ready to wake up yet; she'd been traveling all night!  
She groaned and rolled over. She would be content with staying in bed for as long as she could, but just as she began to settle down again the door to her room burst open and a dumpy old female hedgehog came in with a basket of freshly laundered clothes, and a loud booming voice, snatching Amy out of sleep's hold." "I'm awake!" She claimed, eyes large in shock before she noticed her maid. Oh...it's just you."  
She yawned sleepily and stretched.  
"What's going on?"  
"Well my dear, we have a lot scheduled for today!" the woman said cheerfully, pulling opening the curtains widely and bustling about. "You'll be keeping company with the Crown Princess, Lord Sonic, Sir Knuckles, Young Sir Prowler, Lady Cream, Lady Rouge, and our dear Lord Shadow."  
Amy had nodded for a moment, mind muddled as it was, before something in her brain clicked and Amy sputtered.  
"What? S-Shadow's coming too?"  
"But of course, m'lady."  
Amy groaned.  
Maybe she could feign illness and stay in her room all day.  
She hadn't seen Shadow since she was thirteen, And even four years later she could remember his sneering, sarcastic and irksome face. If she recalled that last meting had been equally as turbulent as the last.   
"Do I have to go?"  
"But of course your ladyship! You must!"  
She groaned again and sunk back into her bed.  
This really wasn't fair: why did he have to come along?  
She sulked at the window, laying her head on her arms on the sill as she thought of ways to comfort herself. At least Sonic and Tails and Cream would be there. All she could hope was that Shadow would forget about her or ignore her. 

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Down below in the court yard a sparing match had been proclaimed.  
Sonic threw off his mask while his opponent moved forward.  
He dodged and sent a strike toward the other's unprotected side, but the rival hedgehog slid to the side and blocked, sending his sword off to the opposite direction.  
"Aww, you're getting good Shadow" Sonic said gaily, before he met another attack head on.  
"'Getting good?' Preposterous! I am much better than you, blue hedgehog!"  
"You keep saying that, but I still keep kicking your butt!"  
It was just as he was about to have another strike blocked, that the two paused as a voice interrupted their match.  
It was the Princess, Sally Acorn.  
"Yoo-hoo~"  
"Hey'a Sal'" Sonic called, striding towards her, beaming his signature smile.  
Shadow merely crossed his arms and nodded to the princess, as he ripped off the mask and threw it to the weapons stock along with his sword.  
Knuckles, Tails, Cream and Rouge who had been watching with interest stood.  
"I wanted see who'd win!" Tails exclaimed as Cream nodded.  
Shadow smirked.  
"Naturally the winner would be I."  
Rouge quirked a brow and smirked.  
"Someone is getting pretty full of them self."  
"Hmph."

"Good morning." Came a cheery voice from behind them; they all turned as Amy walked up waving happily.  
"Hi Amy!"  
Tails and Cream ran up to their friend excitedly.  
"Long time no see."  
As the she-hog greeted Knuckles and Sonic and Sally, Shadow stood a part. It took him a moment to recognize her; Amy had changed since that ball so many years ago. Instead of short and aloof she had grown tall and cheerful and was smiling at everyone. For a moment he wondered if she remembered him; but as she glanced over and gave a quick hurried nod before turning right back to Knuckles he decided that she must.

"Checking out our little friend, Shadow?" came the sly voice of Sonic as he seemingly popped next to him out of no where.  
"I have no idea what you're getting at."  
"Oh yes you do, you were checking her out."  
"Not really, I was just wondering if I would be remembered from our last engagement."  
"Remembered from what?" Sonic said suddenly, a sharpness entering his voice.  
Shadow smirked peevishly. It was usually he that was easily irritated; so rarely was Sonic anything but smiles and cheek. However unfavorably he remembered Amy being, the thought of annoying Sonic was too tempting to shove away without thought.  
"Nothing for you to worry your pretty little head over."  
Smirking he left Sonic frowning after him as he walked off.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.

The group walked towards the stables.  
Sonic, both Shadow and The Princess noted, was enthusiastically trying to engage Amy Rose in apparently hilarious private conversation, judging by the way she was laughing.  
In fact, Shadow got the idea that it was somehow about him as she glanced back suddenly before immediately looking away again.

The group left the castle before noon, followed by a group of guards who hung back only for the privacy of Princess Sally's guests. 

They started at a slow gait, conversing lightly together.  
Sonic and Amy at the front continued on in their own world, oblivious to the others and Sally, who would either try to start up one with Sonic, or join in.  
Shadow smirked as her face fell after another unsuccessful attempt, but he regretted it almost as quickly when she looked around and caught his eye, and slowed down to keep step with his horse. This was a normal tactic that the Princess employed when, free-spirited Sonic was involved with something she wasn't a part of.  
"Hello Shadow."  
She flickered her eyelashes at him.  
He sighed internally as she tried to talk to him. At whatever he said, weather it be funny or not she would laugh loudly, and every few seconds her eyes would flick to the back of Sonic's head, only to find that her blue admirer was too busy catching up with the pink female.

At one point Sonic had turned back to ask Sally how much further and she perked up, only to get disappointed again when he turned back to Lady Rose.

The trip took up most of the evening, before finally they had settled down in a small field outside of the forest, where a clear blue river flowed on. They set down their blankets and had a nice meal: apple pies, sandwiches, cakes, fruits, ham, and roast beef, chicken, you name it.  
From where Shadow was standing, leaning against a tree with one arm crossed over his chest, the other gripping the apple he was munching on, he could see everything in the wide open space around him. It was the most enjoyable vantage point he could fine.

The picnic was rather amusing: the most exciting parts being when Tails got stuck in a tree trying to get an apple for Cream, and Rouge deigning to help out the child;  
When Knuckles, to Shadows great amusement, tried to force Sonic in the river after Sonic had thrown a pie at his face,  
And When Cream entertained everyone trying to catch butterflies; in the end Amy "caught" it, even though it was more like it flew over to her and landed gently on her finger.  
That bit had left a sour taste in his mouth at anything, but he wasn't the only one to find it sickening. Over the course of the picnic he was of the opinion that Princess Sally Acorn was a rather jealous flirt.  
After the whole butterfly incident she had tried to copy Amy's childishness and oblivious behavior; she offered to help Tails catch a few fish, but then she got bored of it and started to glare angrily in the direction of Amy and Sonic, where Amy was telling Cream a story of a flying whale who traveled to beautiful places.  
She tried hanging out with Knuckles as he showed off for his Bat friend. But Rouge was very quick to monopolize his time.  
Amy even helped Cream to make flower crowns; Cream had even given him one which he wore most reluctantly, and took it off as soon as he could, red faced at the teasing of Knuckles and Sonic.  
Sally almost cried when Amy had given Sonic one, which he wore cheerfully despite it being completely ridiculous.  
Finally Tails and Cream started to get bored with just sitting around and decided that they wanted to explore.  
"Okay, we should split up into teams so we don't get lost" Sally said.  
The rest agreed: Rouge grabbed Knuckles and headed away.  
Tails and Cream ran off excitedly.  
Sally looked hopefully at her blue Hero, but her face dropped when he tried to invite Amy, leaving Shadow smirking. Gladly for her, the pink hedgehog declined, leading Sally to drag Sonic along while he kept looking back reluctantly.  
Thus left the two with Tails and Cream who busied themselves looking for critters near-by.

Watching them happily Amy settled down on the blanket in silence.  
Standing around for too long however, did not suit Shadow much. He contemplated going off alone, but somehow he figured he would earn flack for it later, if not from Rouge, then from Sonic. He looked down at the pink female and cleared his throat asking "Do you want to go for a walk?" as she looked up at him.  
She hesitated a minute then bounced up.  
"Sure."  
They walked together trees with minimal conversation about the weather, and how they were enjoying the festivities.  
"So, how have things been with you?" Amy asked as she pushed a branch out of her way.  
He grunted as he caught the swinging limb before it could hit him in the face.  
"I'll take that as a 'fine' then?"  
He shrugged. "For lack of a better word."  
"How are your parents? I haven't seen them in a while."  
He paused. "I believe they are alright. I have not been home to visit for a while."  
"Oh really? Why not?"  
He murmured something about being too busy.  
Shadow had his own castle to go to, and did not need to go bothering the rest of his family. But before they could say anything further they heard voices up ahead.  
"Oh Sonic, isn't this soo much fun?"  
"What? Oh, yea; Fun."  
"Sonic! What the heck is wrong with you? You're all distracted today?"  
"What do you mean?" "You know exactly what I mean, a Sonic a The Hedgehog!"

"Uh oh, I think we better leave." Amy said fretfully.  
"Hmph. That may be a good idea."  
They took a sharp left and headed in that direction for a while.  
"You really are an interesting character Rose."  
"Hmm? What do you mean?"  
She gave him a confused expression as she climbed over a large tree trunk in their way. He grunted as he hopped off it and took her hand as he helped her down.  
"You know exactly what I mean."  
"I have no idea what you're talking about."  
He sighed exasperatedly.  
"You know, the whole Sonic thing." He said as he nodded his head in the general direction of where Sally and Sonic had been.  
"What?" She gave him a look and mentally he swore.  
"We all were there Amy Rose. You two were all over each other. You do realize that that's why those two were fighting right?"  
He watched as her face turned aghast. If she was acting innocent then she really was a good actor.

"You've got it all wrong,"She said looking around anxiously. "Why would I be all over Sonic? He chose the Princess a long time ago."  
"Amy, are you honestly saying that this whole time you were NOT flirting with him?"  
"Of course not! I may have liked Sonic in the past; but I've grown up a little. Sonic is just a good friend."  
He looked at her and sighed.  
He really wasn't sure if that was how she was really feeling, but in the end it really wasn't his business in the first place. It wasn't his job to play moral guardian to a couple of spoiled ladies of the court.  
Instead he turned towards the path, Amy following behind him.  
"You really don't believe me, do you."  
He quirked a brow.  
"I don't think-"  
"Oh, there you guys are!"  
The two hedgehogs turned to the voice; It was Knuckles who was now calling to the rest of the group.  
"I found them! Come on guys, we're about to head to Sally's place." He ran off leaving the two hedgehogs. They looked at each other, Amy's expression anxious.  
"We'll continue this later"  
She nodded and he led the way back to the others.  
Amy noted sadly that Sally and Sonic were looking at anything but each other on the way back, and her eyes looked sort of red and puffy.  
One time Sonic tried to start off a conversation with her, but she glanced back at Sally, who was glaring at her mutinously.  
She gave him a somewhat sad smile and put her voice down so only he cold hear.  
"Maybe you should keep Sally company."  
He looked surprised at her then looked ahead sadly.  
"I don't think she wants to talk to me at the moment. She sort of blew up at me for some reason earlier. I really don't know why though."  
He glanced back at her looking helpless.  
"I think I know why. She was just missing you today, that's all."  
"What do you mean? I've been here all day."  
"Apparently I've been taking up a lot of your time today. I think she feels sort of ignored."  
His eyes widened subtly he glanced back at the Princess.  
"I hadn't really noticed. Honestly. But I don't really get to see you much Ames; you're a good friend and I just wanted to catch up."  
She beamed up at him. "Well, now you've caught up, so stop hanging out with your friend and give your fiance some attention already."  
With a sigh Sonic slowed down to meet with Sally, grinning cheekily at her surprised but immensely pleased face.  
Amy smiled as she watched him try and cheer up the Princess, when Shadow caught her eye. He met her gaze for a moment then nodded, turning his attention to the road ahead.  
She puffed her cheek in wonder before talking to Cream who was animatedly going over their day. She was honestly disappointed since she thought she'd be getting away from the ever wide eye of the court. But if she couldn't even catch up with her friends as she wanted, what was the point in the vacation.

They arrived at Sally's Vacation House just when the sun had started to set. It was a beautiful one story building set into the side of a cliff over the sea. It had a wraparound balcony and a garden with all sorts of plants. On the side that sat over the edge of the cliff were stairs that lead right to a private beach.  
Somehow, the sight was enough for her to look forward to the rest of the trip.


	3. Chapter 3

Thorns and Roses

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:..:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:..:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Amy stepped out onto the balcony over-looking the sea and smiled contently as she leaned her arms on the railing. She closed her eyes as she listened to the sounds of the waves crashing on the rocks below.  
There was something calming about the sound.  
She stood there silently taking it all in; the smell of he ocean, and the feel of the gentle breeze.

"May I join you?"  
With a start she hopped back and frowned angrily at Shadow as she felt her pulse slow down to normal.  
"Don't do that! You nearly made me jump over this railing!"  
The black hedgehog smirked as he came forth to stand beside her, staring off into the distance to admire the sight of the water glistening in the moonlight.  
Even at night there wasn't a cloud in the sky.  
Amy hesitantly leaned back on the railing and they stood in silence.  
"Enjoying yourself?" He offered, a bored expression over his face.  
She grinned;  
"Of course I am! I'm finally out of the stupid old castle, and I can actually join company with people I like!"  
He grunted, silently musing if he was included in that group of people.  
"Hey, Shadow?"  
Shadow glanced at her from the corner of his eye.  
"It's been a while, huh?"  
He grunted again to her amusement and she continued on, her own face lapsing into a serious expression to rival his own.  
"Do you think I'm a liar?"  
Alarmed with the bluntness of the question Shadow straightened up, peering at the female in confusion.  
"What makes you think that?" He asked neutrally.  
"Well, earlier you were acting like I was hogging Sonic or something."  
"Humph. I was merely observing what it seemed."  
"Yeah, maybe; but earlier I told you I wasn't" she said, meeting his gaze, "and you didn't believe me."  
He hesitated as they looked at each other, the sounds of the ocean filling the silence of the night.  
"It's not that I don't believe you Rose. I suppose you could call it curiosity."  
"What do you mean?"  
He gave her a fierce sort of sideways stare, and grimaced at the ocean.  
"You're acting too innocent to be believed, Rose."  
She made a face. "I don't get it."  
As he heaved a sigh she shook her head, turning back towards the scene.  
"But I guess that I thought it meant you hated me, although I'm not really sure you don't."  
She'd expected another grunt but instead she was surprised when he actually looked startled.  
"What-"  
Before he could continue the door behind them opened, casting orange light from inside.  
"Hey guys! What are doing out here alone? Come and join the fun!"  
That was Rouge accompanied by Tails, who ran back inside to join Cream.  
"Heh. It's funny how that keeps happening." Amy said, pushing off the rail expectantly.  
Shadow stared at her for a moment before turning back to look over the ocean.  
"You can leave if you want."  
"Huh? You're not coming?"  
"Nope. I've had enough excitement for a day."  
There was another moment of silence that hung pregnant over their heads with the crashes of waves below. She had to wonder just what he was thinking of, but there was an awkwardness that instead kept her moving forward towards the open door.  
"Goodnight then Shadow."  
When there was no reply she slide the door shut with a snap.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.  
Surprisingly, Amy was the first person to wake up the next morning; the only noise she could hear were the sounds of the waves outside and the soft breathing of Cream in the other bed of their shared room,  
She laid there for a long while, and stared off into the ceiling while she absorbed the peace and calmliness of the vacation house. Eventually her need for movement overcame her need for peace, and she rose to get ready for the day.  
Gently she slid open the door to the balcony, and breathed in the salty fresh air.  
Today she would take advantage of the unpopulated beach.  
She grabbed a towel, her beach shoes, and her after donning her white bathing gown set off for the sandy dunes.

She picked a shady spot under a tree to set down her stuff and waded into the crystal clear waters. The cool water was just as enjoyable as the sight of the multicolored fish and the corals reefs when she dived below to the ocean floor; letting herself sink to the bottom and laying on the ground before she would run out of air and bring herself to the surface again.  
Amy was floating on the water, relaxing, when she got the sensation of being watched.  
Treading water she looked around.  
Ahead she could see a figure the shade, and She squinted before laughing to herself; she should've known that he would be awake as well.  
She waved merrily at Shadow, who hesitated before nodding and leaning back against the trunk of a large palm.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Shadow sighed to himself.  
What was he doing?  
He frowned at a little crab digging itself from the under the sand to move closer to the shade.  
He was beginning to feel ridiculous. Foolish even.  
He was also frustrated, and not to mention flustered, as well as maybe embarrassed.  
He felt his face heat up,uncharacteristically as he watched the pink hedgehog play in the water. He thought as he ground his teeth and looked away that a wet bathing gown should not bother him so much.

He glared to where Amy was innocently enjoying the water, and he grimaced.  
How unfair it all was that he was beginning to find her attractive. He had known that he found her curious; the image of when they were younger and the little wars they'd waged was burned enough into his brain that it had festered into something like a paranoia. At first he was interested in her because of the inability to get along with her; that every moment she could be planning a dirty trick to best him. But when no trick appeared and when she'd not met any of his expectations he had then become curious about how she'd changed.  
And he somehow that turned into being interested not in the fact she had changed, but of what she changed into.

He was curious because it was such a difference in how most people changed.  
When it came to other people, he never interacted; he observed.  
The others he observed as though through a one-sided glass; he saw all the little things that made them unsatisfactory: their spitefulness, their greed, their unrighteousness; and seeing their flaws he felt if not superior, then at least that they were all in the same boat. Just another soul as ugly as his own. 

At one point a few years ago he had looked at her through that same glass only for her to glare right back and while he had seen an annoying, obnoxious, and rude child it had not left him bored and unsatisfied. Instead it had alighted him to passion for someone to be so equal while so oblivious to how far she was.  
And now he couldn't see the same flaws he had back then: she had gone though some sort of transformation and she was no longer annoying, she was no longer obnoxious,at least on the surface, and she was no longer antisocial.  
He grimaced.  
It irked him.

And that was another matter altogether. He couldn't understand exactly why the idea of her attempting to steal her child-hood crush from the spoiled little princess irked him so greatly.  
Truthfully; he really didn't care much for Sally; he saw her as equally obnoxious and rather vain. That wasn't to say she wasn't intelligent and all that; but he didn't see her as perfect as everyone else did.  
But if it wasn't about Sally, then what was it? He knew at the time he had felt almost angry when they were acting so closey-closey.

He sighed as his mind brought him back around to other thoughts related to a white swimming dress when he decided that he should stop while he was ahead. Thinking too much of any one woman might only add to a complication of proprieties he had to deal with.

For the rest of the time he tried to stop looking at her. He tried to keep his eyes closed. He tried to pretend she wasn't there. But the more he reminded himself not to look, the more often he would want to take a peek.  
At some point he realized with disgust for himself, that whenever she would dive under until she would come back up again he would hold his breath.  
There was one awful moment when she disappeared for longer than usual. He had sat up straightly and frowned for her over the water. He had almost got up to swim in and find her, when to his relief her head popped out of the water.

He frowned as he realized she was staring at something, then to his surprise she started to swim back to shore excitedly. He got up to meet her.  
"Hey Shadow! Guess what I found!! It's a cave, over there behind the cliff!"  
For a moment she looked so bright and happy in the sunlight and the sparkling water that he shook his head to stop himself from going blind.  
"Can we go look in it? Pleaaase Shadow~!"  
He heaved a breath and looked up towards the sun spanning it's way over the cliff that held the vacation house, and he almost smirked at what he saw up there.  
"It seems we will have to some other time Rose, your friends are calling you."  
He pointed over her shoulder where she turned to see Cream and Tails waving down at them.  
"Hi Amy, Hi Shadow!" Creams soft high pitched voice flew forth.  
"I guess your right."  
She grabbed her towel and they made their way up the steps to join the others.

There was plenty of talking and laughing, and bit of excitement as Knuckles and Sonic were arguing over something petty. Rouge and Sally had gone to decide on breakfast.  
When everyone else was halfway finished Amy noticed Shadow, who had been standing in the corner watching everyone eat, slid out of the kitchen and head to the garden.  
She finished munching on her apple, and while everyone was being preoccupied by a particularly funny story by Rouge about their red echidna friend, she slipped out of the room quietly and decided she would stalk the mysterious hedgehog.

Shadow paused out the doors of the veranda to examine an exotic looking plant before glancing out the corner of his eye at the pink hedge-girl looking around at the different plants contently. He noticed with a jolt that at least she had changed to an evening dress.

He glanced back at her one more time before he decided he couldn't stand it.  
"What do you want Rose? Got bored of your little friends?"  
She looked over at him before replying,  
"Of course not; I'm just talking a walk."  
He looked up at her suspiciously.  
'She probably just doesn't want to see Sonic and Sally together He thought cautiously.

She watched in wonder as he frowned at a particularly big flower. She couldn't think of anything she'd said to make him angry but it always seemed to her that Shadow was down about something. She had never actually seen him smile before; sometimes he would give a smirk, or even a sneer but he never actually seemed happy about anything.  
"Hey Shadow?"  
He grunted. See, not happy.  
"Do you ever feel happy?"  
"What?"  
He looked stunned, as if that was the last thing he would think of her asking.  
And it probably was.  
"Well, you always seem down I guess so I was wondering why you don't ever smile."  
He stared at her with an expression appropriate for an extra head growing out of her shoulder for a pause, but he seemed to think it over rather quickly.  
"Perhaps I never have anything to smile about," he offered hesitantly.   
She quirked a brow in thought.  
"Really? But how can you never have anything to smile about?"  
He frowned at her.  
"I just don't."  
With that he turned towards the path and started to walk away.  
Amy hesitated, her expression concerned, before running to catch up with him.  
"Stupid tall person" She muttered.  
"What?"  
"I said 'Stupid tall person'. You walk too fast"  
He shook his head, continuing on, although it was possible that he'd slowed down a little bit. Shadow was weird like that, and It always made it hard for her to tell.

They walked through the miniature jungle, speaking minimally about the surroundings and especially the plants when they happened upon one of interest.

There was a moment when Amy had stopped walking and stood to stare at something high above.  
Shadow, realizing she was no longer in his presence turned back and approached, wondering about what she was looking for. He frowned at he saw an ordinary tree, and became curious.  
"Amy? What are you doing?"  
She didn't even glance at him, instead she glared hard towards the tree and said something that had his eyes widen in suprise.  
"I'm trying to decided weather or not I should climb that tree."  
He pulled a face.  
"Seriously?"  
"Well yeah, it's perfect for climbing. Just look at those branches."  
She frowned harder and then looked around as if to see if anyone was watching, before she walked quickly to the trunk.  
Shadow, not knowing exactly how to respond simply followed her, standing under the tree of interest.  
Then she started to climb. She grabbed two of the branches and put her foot on another heaving herself up, and she continued one, hand, hand foot, heave.  
Shadow stood under, awestruck and a little concerned, but rather amused by the situation.

Very soon she was at the top, sitting on a fork created by the trunk and it's branches. From there she sat she waved down at Shadow.  
"Hey Shadow, you should try this!"  
"Preposterous."  
"Aww, come on Shadow! It's fun! And the view is amazing!"  
He was startled to say the least. Here she was asking him, an adult Knight, to climb with her, a Lady, up a tree.  
He sighed.  
She really was a character.

On one hand he could do so, just to show her how it's done. Assuredly his dignity would not be challenged over such a small venture.  
He glanced around and made up his mind.  
Quickly he followed, climbing with the graceful precision of an athlete.  
Soon he was up there with her, and he settled onto another branch with thinly veiled amazement; the view really was spectacular. You could see over the walls of the house, and past the jungle, all the way to purple mountains on one side obscuring their view of the world in front of them. Then to the left was the ocean, sparkling in the sunlight.  
"Isn't it just beautiful Shadow? I could stay here for the rest of my life!"  
He glanced at her, taking in the smiling face, and the bright light that made her green eyes glow happily, and again he felt that he was being blinded.  
"I, suppose."

They sat their for a while, taking in the world around them. That seemed to be their relationship: a couple of people just spectating, observers of the rest of the world. Only, where he was content with staying still and observing from a distance, she was just like a curious child: wanting to touch and experience everything half of the time, never truly content with being uninvolved.

It was comfortable up here: this wasn't his first tree climbing adventure. Since he was a child he had made a game of jumping from tree branch to tree branch. His mother had once thought it was dangerous, but he never had a problem with heights. He remembered scaring her once when he had actually jumped from twenty feet off the ground and landed without injuring himself, but after the punishment he got he'd learned to stop showing off.

After a while their friends had decided to start searching for the pair. From their perch they heard the voices of Tails and Cream calling their names, and it was then that they decided it would be best to leave.  
Amy made to start climbing down, but Shadow took hold of her arm, and swung her around behind him.  
"Hold on." he instructed her.  
She wrapped her arms around his neck from behind, and with her knees held onto his sides, as off he went, jumping down from one branch to another.  
She scrambled off his back, exhilarated as they reached the ground  
"That was so cool!"  
He smirked at her and led the way back to the others, who were sitting outside on the steps to the garden talking among themselves.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.

"So! What's the plan for today" Sonic asked loudly, grabbing the attention of everyone around him.  
"Well, I want to go hiking" said Knuckles  
"I want to go running." Sonic said impatiently.  
"Ohh~ Exploring sounds like fun! Right Tails?" Chimed in Cream.  
Sally had grabbed onto Sonic's arm in an unspoken answer.  
Amy was starting to think this whole vacation was becoming some sort of group date. Knuckles and Rouge were eyeing each other expectantly, Cream and Tails were talking excitedly about what they might find on their adventure, and while Sally was clinging to his arm Sonic was scratching his cheek and looking away embarrassed. All who were left were two; Shadow and Amy.

It suddenly dawned on her that she had been spending a lot more time with the black and red hedgehog than she had initially expected.  
She had been surprised when they had first seen each other after all the years. As a child he'd been a nasty little jerk face with a bad attitude and a hot temper. She had actually thought he hated her a little. That was why she had been reluctant to go on this trip if he were there. She liked making friends; not dealing with enemies.  
But yesterday instead of the constant arguing and bickering and dirty looks and maybe even violence she had expected, they actually got along quite well, even if it wasn't the buddy-buddy type of relationship she had with the others.  
She realized with a jolt she felt different with him around.  
At first she had been more self aware; she kept quiet and didn't do anything immature. She stayed calm and controlled her small impulses to so do anything more exciting.  
But that had been at first. 

This morning she had decided to take a chance at being more herself, and she was pleased when he didn't sneer at her and call her childish; instead he had even joined her in her tree climbing adventure! And that was something she could have never expected.  
This was Shadow after all; he was anti-social, quiet and impassive. So what had cased him to drop his usual superior attitude, and join her?

She was quite confused about it all. Like why it was their old hate-hate relationship had turned into a friendly companionable one. Or how come She felt so unsure, or why she cared suddenly about what he thought about her. And she couldn't explain the weird smothering feeling in her chest when their eyes met. As the group split off she glanced up to see that even now he was looking at her, with the most unreadable expression on his face.  
She quickly glanced away and she felt her cheeks heat up.  
'Oh great, now I'm blushing~!' 

The group left the house, excited for another day of adventure.  
There wasn't very much conversation between the two hedgehogs as Amy and Shadow walked on past the different plants.  
To the both of them the other seemed to have a lot on their mind; they would glance at each other often but drop it when they met.  
Eventually though, Amy started to get a bit bored of walking silently.  
She would have to find a distraction.  
Once she found a small little borrow of an unidentified animal, and she started to poke into it with a stick, until Shadow told her, amusedly that they should probably continue on before something popped out. As they rested for a few minutes she made a game of stacking rocks on top of each other until they fell. Shadow even surprised her by playfully knocking them over himself at one point.  
He sneered at her little pout before she brightened again.

Amy learned from their small talk that Shadow, despite the usual idea of him being less brainy due to his quietness and temperament, he actually was a bit of a scholar.  
He learned that Amy was also more intelligent than she led on when they were able to have a deep discussion about the meaning of happiness. She was a romantic at heart, she claimed. Plus, books about secret romances were much more interesting than learning crotchet.  
He learned that her parents, even though they were nobility of Acorn, were descended from Mercians. And she learned that his own mother had been from Lenug Kar, the country to the south.  
They had had no idea just how long they had been walking, but it really didn't matter, since they were enjoying themselves.  
Then something very unexpected happened.

Amy could see a clear space from where they were walking, and feeling the need for some excitement she decided she would challenge Shadow to a race.  
"Peh! You don't truly think you can beat me in a race do you?"  
She huffed and put her hands on her hips heatedly.  
"I bet I can!"  
He smirked evilly. There was no way he could lose to this girl; Shadow was able to run at speeds that rivaled Sonic himself.  
"Fine then, but you can't say I didn't warn you. Prepare to be defeated, Rose."  
They stopped walking, and lined up.  
"Okay, the finish line is that clearing up ahead"  
He nodded smirking, this would be too easy.  
"On your mark,"  
They crouched, ready to shoot off at a moments notice,  
"Get set"  
They glanced at each other, and glared at each other playfully.  
"Go!"  
And off they went! Two flashes, one of pink, and one black, speeding down the path in front of them!  
They dodged the low hanging branches, and sped up, neck and neck, before Amy started in shock when she realized that he was only going faster, he then was yards ahead;  
And then without warning he stopped directly ahead of her, skidding to a stop and turning, but she didn't have time to brake!

With a crash she ran right into him, and with a sinking feeling realized just why he had paused, unfortunately the clearing wasn't quite as flat as she'd assumed!  
In slow motion they started to fall, and then they were rolling quickly down the small hill. They shut their eyes as the world spun upside down and around, and then the spinning stopped, and they landed right in front of another stretch of trees. 

It took a moment for the world to stop spinning, and they opened their eyes while time froze again.

As Shadow stared down into the green eyes of the pink hedgehog his mind went blank. He couldn't focus against the strange feeling of being so close. There were leaves in her hair; how funny that most of their adventured ended with that. The softer feminine quills spread around her head, framing her face. She looked wide eyed and just as confused as he was, and in it's own strange way beautiful and leading him to move closer. However, she was also moving up to meet him; their mouths barley an inch apart while their eyes connected.  
But then with a jolt their minds began to work again. Their eyes widened and Shadow pushed himself from over her with a roll, turning his back towards the female , and unable to meet her eyes while trying to ignore the blush that crossed his face.

Amy was in just as much shock. Bashfully she sat up shaking the dust off her dress.  
Between them the space was electric with confusion, and anxiety, and another tumultuous emotion that they could not place.  
'I almost kissed her.'  
'I almost kissed him.'  
Their wide eyes met in horror, and they had to tear them away just as quickly.  
Shadow coughed, and although she didn't look up her ears scrolled towards the sound.  
"We... we should get going."  
"Um, Yea"  
She crawled to her feet sheepishly as Shadow stood and turned back towards the slope.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.  
Amy felt her brain working over time.  
'We almost kissed; it almost happened; our lips almost touched! How does that work!?'  
Slowly she began to comfort herself; looking for all the excuses she could think of.  
They had just been dizzy from the fall. That's it.  
It was all just a misunderstanding, right? I mean, he cant possibly like me; that's outrageous! This is SHADOW we're talking about.  
'But do you want it to be?' Came a voice in her head. It echoed around her brain.  
DID she want what happened to be a misunderstanding?  
She was a romantic after all; she longed for companionship and connection. As her heart sped inside her chest, she even shivered as the feeling of that longing went down her arms in waves.

She glanced over at the black hedgehog through the corner of her eye but he wasn't looking at her; There was a frown playing on his face and his cheeks still looked flushed.  
What was he thinking?  
What did he think of her now?  
Did he hate her? Now that they had just started to be friendly?  
She didn't want him to hate her; she didn't want to be hated by anyone, but now as the addictive sensation of a prospect for the thing she wanted most swam in front of her she especially did not want to be hated by Shadow.  
She felt the water ducts of her eyes move slightly.  
But why should she care if he hated her or not?  
She sighed inwardly; gradually he was becoming one of those people who she didn't want to hate.  
She wanted him to like her.  
She rubbed her neck nervously.  
No, she didn't want it to be an accident, she, very confusingly, almost regretted that it didn't happen.  
And now she was confused and overwhelmed by the possibilities that also brought the despair of possibilities.  
She wanted Shadow to like her.  
And she both relived in that possibility and couldn't believe in it.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.


	4. Chapter 4

Thorns and Roses

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:..:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:..:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.

The foot soldier sent a silent prayer to the Mother of All as he hesitated by massive doors of the great hall. He had bad news to tell his master, and if there was one thing the Grand Master hated more then defeat, it was bad news.  
"Enter"  
The voice was deep and unearthly. Even behind the thick layer of wood, it boomed in the soldier's ear drums; the base of a voice of evil.  
The soldier pushed opened the door and gulped as he straightened in salute.

The only source of light was at the end of the great hall coming from two torches on each side of a massive throne.  
But the throne wasn't the massive thing about the room. Sitting on this throne was a huge figure who was so tall that the glow of the lights beside him couldn't reach his face.

The soldier nervously kneeled to the ground and bowed before the devilish being.  
"Speak" He the voice commanded with a bored kind of air.  
"S-sir! The commandant of the second Regiment has sent a message! The army of Acorn has decimated our forces and ruined the attack on Furville! They only have ten soldiers left and they're dying fast! He requests that we send more men or that they will retreat."  
"Hmmmm, I see."  
For a moment there was silence and then the dark figure leered evilly.  
"Tell him and the other generals to gather all the troops to the city of Gravestone. I think it's time for a bit of reorganization."  
"Y-yes sir!"  
The solider ran out of the room, both ecstatic that his life was spared, and twistedly pleased for this new turn of events: if Black Doom was reorganizing the army, this could only mean that soon, very soon it would be time for battle!  
Gore and violence was the very essence of the Black Arms race.  
Their love of violence went right down to their genetics; they couldn't get enough of the satanic feeling that killing gave them.  
The smell of blood, the screams of terror, the chaos!  
It was their drug.  
It was their lifeline!  
He hurried his pace ready to complete his task with a new type of eagerness. 

Black Doom folded his clawed hands together and plucked awake his Third Eye implanted into its squid like body.  
"It is time that I've gotten rid of these Mobian pests! My eye! Go to Castle Acorn and observe the so called King. If they begin to recognize our movements, you know what to do. We must not allow these vermin to figure out our plans before we are ready."  
As the eye 'swam' away Black Doom's evil laughter could be heard far through the walls of his hidden empire.  
It was almost time.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:..:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Amy woke up with a start.  
She looked around at the now familiar walls of the guest room she shared with Cream.  
The sun was shining merrily from the open window doors that lead to a small balcony that stretched over the main one of the beach house.  
She sighed.  
She hadn't even realized that she had fallen asleep; she had been up late thinking about; Him. 

A few days had passed since the little incident in the forest, and ever since then the two hedgehogs developed an unspoken unanimous decision to distance themselves.  
Amy started to pay more attention to the others, and did her best to avoid being alone with him, and he put his efforts into staying as far away from her as possibly.  
When they did talk, they were very short greetings and goodbyes; the awkwardness kept them from any real conversation.  
Amy sighed.

She wanted to be friendlier, but she still didn't know what he thought about her now. She had a feeling he didn't exactly hate her: or else he would have completely shut her out. But at the same time, she didn't think her presence would be welcome for a while. She would at least give it all time to blow over, and until she figured out her feelings on the whole mess.

She sat up and looked around, and frowned as she realized that Cream was up already: her bed was already made.  
She hurried to get dressed and ran downstairs to the kitchen; their usual meeting place, but nobody was there.

She grabbed an apple and started out to the balcony, but just as she was about to grab the door handle it slid opened, and to her surprise it was Shadow.  
They stood there for a moment not sure what do, before Shadow closed his eyes and walked past, avoiding her gaze.  
"If your looking for your friends, they're down at the beach."  
"Oh, thanks Shadow"

She stared after him but then turned to the beach, and sure enough she could see the forms of her friends playing in the sand and water.  
She hurried upstairs to change into her bathing suit and was soon down on the beach waving to everyone else.

The beach was fun as ussual.  
They buried a sleeping Knuckles in the sand; they built sand castles and had a contest which Cream, Sally, and Rouge won; Knuckles and Rouge and Tails made a game of jumping into the water from a cliff, and Knuckles threw a loudly protesting Sonic into the water before he had to get saved, for which Sally volunteered enthusiastically.

"I didn't know you couldn't swim" Amy said as he laid out on a towel next to her, still recovering from his dive.  
He mumbled something about a stupid Echidna as she laughed.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Shadow was relaxing on the roof of the vacation home.  
His eyes were closed but his ears would twitch every once in a while at the sound of the ocean.

This would have been the ideal situation for him to take a nap, but he had a lot on his mind at the moment. For the last few days he had tried to put everything to the very back of his mind but, like most thoughts, the more he reminded himself not to think about it, the more he DID think about it.  
He was actually getting annoyed at himself.

Why was it that the thing that didn't even happen, kept playing over and over again in his mind? And even if it did happen, why would it have mattered so very much?  
It wasn't as if he had never kissed a girl before, and when he had it hadn't ever been meaningful. So, why would this one be special? Why would this one be an exception to the very rules had had placed over himself?  
He was above emotional attachment. It was over rated.  
But wasn't that another problem?  
WAS he truly becoming attached to the girl?

He closed his eyes. Okay. So he almost kissed her. What did that mean?  
It meant…  
He frowned to himself.  
What DID that mean?  
Did that mean he was growing fond of her?  
Possibly.

He knew already that he was attracted to her; but that was not so strange in itself.  
He already knew that he was curious about observing her.  
He still couldn't figure out exactly how to define her character: on one hand she was childish, the other she was mature, and on one hand she was full of energy, the next she was calm. Yes, her character both confused him and interested him.  
But how did he actually feel about her emotionally?  
That was the problem.

He glared at the sky, deep in thought.  
He knew he enjoyed her company.  
Yes, he distinctly remembered feeling more …content in her company than usual.  
He knew that he cared, just a bit, for her safety.  
As a kid he had hated seeing her crying, and the image of her doing so again caused a bad sort of sinking feeling within himself. That and her getting hurt somehow; that was very bad too.  
He knew that he had felt a sudden flash of anger when he saw her talking so intently with the blue annoyance.  
He frowned darkly.  
Yes, that definitely was not a good thing.  
But there was something else that he could not define. It was something different: something foreign; a weird twisting feeling in his chest.  
Thus begged the question of why he should be fond of the little maniac?  
Why would he attach himself to someone, when he knew how much pain losing them would cause?  
He thought more about the subject and he realized with a jolt, that it had been six years since the other 'incident'.  
It didn't feel like six years. Time had flown by, hadn't it?  
Since that day…  
Since the day he lost someone very important to him.  
His 'older sister'…  
Maria…

Maria had been his closest friend: his only 'true' friend.  
She had been very kind, very open, and she had cared for him.  
When he was younger he use to sneak out of the castle he lived in and he would go and visit the near-by village simply for some excitement in his boring life.  
He would walk around town, enjoying the sites, observing the workers, and most importantly trying to stay conspicuous.  
One morning he had decided to skive off another boring math lecture, and he headed straight for the village.  
That morning he was watching the construction of one of the new buildings when something bumped his leg.  
He looked down and saw it was a little red ball.  
"Hey kid!"  
He looked up and behind him separated by a little shabby fence were a group of kids playing in the abandoned lot.  
"Can you throw that back?"  
He nodded and picked up the ball, and threw it towards the child, a small little red haired boy.  
Just as the boy caught it, a girl had come up to fence.  
"What's taking so long Billy?" She said kindly. Then she noted the black and red hedgehog standing there.  
"Oh, hello; do you want to play?"  
Shadow hesitated. He wasn't good with socializing.  
But before he could answer the girl had come over and grabbed his arm, leading him over to the other children.  
"My name's Maria, what's yours?"  
"Shadow" he mumbled.  
She laughed at him kindly as they got back to the group.  
"Hey, this is Shadow, he's going to play with us!"  
The other kids waved and said hi before they all turned to walk back to their former spots for their baseball match.  
They had played baseball for the rest of the day, Maria volunteering to teach Shadow after he had failed miserably at his turn at bat.  
For the first time in a long time he was actually having fun.  
Ever since that day he would always come down to the village to meet up with his new friend, sometimes with the others join them, sometimes by themselves playing simple games.

One day on the way back home, his mother had caught him outside.  
At first he thought he was on deep trouble, but to his great surprise she actually encouraged him getting some fresh air and join with the children his own age.  
For almost three years he had a friend who he trusted and cared for, and over the years they became like brother and sister.

But then, suddenly and horribly, it all changed.  
For almost a year a group that called themselves the Black Arms had been casing trouble for the Kingdom of Acorn. Lead by the Evil War Lord Black Doom, they raided and destroyed many of the smaller towns and village's through-out the Kingdom.  
Nobody could ever tell where they would hit next, but one day, at dusk the citizens of the village saw something fast approaching: a red cloud off in the distance. The people had lined up outside the village to see what it was, and then, suddenly the alarms were sounded! They were under attack!

The people ran back to grab their children and their belongings, and then they ran toward the castle: it was MADE for times like these.  
But just as the first people made it inside the walls of the castle, the Black Arms Soldiers had already reached the village! Houses were being burned down left and right, the soldiers themselves were hacking and cutting and destroying anything in their wake!  
For hours the Castle Soldiers tried to back them off, but the damage was already done.  
For the rest of the night the village glowed from the flames of the burning buildings.

The next morning the villagers had come back to find that many of their houses were gone, and many loved ones, neighbors, family and friends had been killed in the attack.

Shadow had gone to the place Maria's house had been only to find it gone: nothing but a pile of ashes, he tried to find her or her family, but he never found them. They must have died with the others.  
Shadow had lost the only friend he ever had…  
For months he locked himself up in his room, for the first week he stopped eating, but by the second eating was the only reason to leave it.  
He stopped going down to the village, he stopped caring about anything anymore.  
He shut out everyone, including his parents, and he vowed that he would never become attached to anyone else for a long time.

Over the years he had gotten better about the death of his friend: not completely over it; there were still the memories; but he learned to deal with the loss.  
He stopped locking himself away, but he didn't truly connect with people.  
He stopped shutting out his parents, but he wouldn't let them completely in.  
He stuck to the rules of outer displays of politeness, but he stuck to promise he made, not to attach himself too tightly. He would keep as much a distance as possible, all for the sake of saving himself from the agony and grief.  
And he planned to keep it that way.

For the last half of a week had had kept himself as far away from Amy Rose as possibly.  
He avoided being alone with her, and ignored his desire for her company.  
When it chanced that they did end up together, he was polite but not friendly.  
Not that he needed to be anything else: Amy, it seemed, was doing her best to stay away as well.  
A little part of him felt guilty and said that she was missed; it was a lot more boring without her, but that was all he allowed himself to think of on that subject.  
He would make himself content with being alone.  
Even if he regretted it for now.

He gritted his teeth as he glanced towards the beach.  
Even from here he could see the pink hedgehog laughing and talking with the blue boob.  
He shook his head at the wave of hot anger that rose to his chest.  
But why should he care?  
He had known for years that Amy had designs for the blue hedgehog, despite their constant denials, and her flexibility to watch him do the things with someone else that she probably wanted to do with him.

His ears flattened against his head before he jumped up, and with the agility and strength of his kind, he jumped down from the roof and landed on his feet before speeding off into the jungle in the opposite direction of the beach.  
He would have to clear his thoughts another way.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.

"Uh oh. It looks like rain you guys."  
Everyone looked up from what they were doing to look at the clouds that Knuckles was pointing to.  
Sure enough even at the distance they were in they could see the dark mass fast approaching. 

They gathered their stuff and headed back up to the beach house.  
When they had reached the front door a light drizzle had started up, but soon it was pouring.  
They played Spades to keep them preoccupied for a while, but eventually Tails, Cream, and Amy got tired of it, and watched as again and again Rouge beat Sonic and Knuckles, winning a good amount of their allowance.  
"Dammit Knuckles! Stop cutting me!"  
"It's not my fault you big loser, I ran out!"  
"YOU HAVE A DIMOND RIGHT THERE!!"  
"Oh! Is THAT what this is? I thought it was a pointy square…"  
"You idiot!"

While Sonic and Knuckles were bickering Amy climbed the stairs and headed to her room, noting with mild interest that Cream and Tails had disappeared. She giggled.  
The room was empty, as expected, the rain was making squiggly patterns on the window pane. 

Silently she went to one of her bags: it was rectangular with hand straps. She unzipped it and took out what she was looking for: a series of books.  
She would start out with one about the beach.

She had just finished unpacking her tomes when Tails and Cream walked past.  
"I don't see him anywhere"  
"Maybe he left"  
"Who're you looking for you two?"  
Cream came back and waved.  
"Hi Amy, we were looking for Mr. Shadow; nobody's seen him since this morning."  
This caught her attention.  
"Where have you looked?"  
"All over the place: we searched all the rooms, but no sign of him."  
"You don't think he would have gone out in THIS weather do you?" Tails said as they walked down the stairs to the others.  
Amy thought about it. And she could feel her sweat drop.

The middle of a storm seemed the most appropriate for their somber red and black friend.  
She sighed and looked out the window.  
He would probably get a cold if left out there for too long.  
As capable as he was for handling himself, most of the guys around here had a thing for not paying attention to their health.

She guessed she would have to look for him.  
She grabbed a brown cloak and a parasol and went out to the main balcony.  
Secretly it would also be an adventure! The great Amy Rose heroically swooping in to save a stubborn headed knight.  
Where would he be…?  
'Well' she thought to herself, 'if he wasn't with us at the beach, so we know he's not there.'  
She thought looking to the ocean.  
'And if he had been in that direction,' She looked to her right, 'he would have seen the storm coming. So that leaves to the back'  
As she walked through the forest, she wondered just what he was doing out here.  
Sight seeing maybe?

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:. 

Shadow shook out his fur as the rain soaked through another layer of his person, as he kneeled panting, the point of his sword in the ground as he held it up.  
He glared at a tree in front of him and at his handy work; a series of deep slashes in its side.  
For the last hour and a half he had been hacking at it; training his arms to withstand the exhaustion that swinging around a sword for a long period of time would give you.

He ignored the rain.  
With a mindset similar to most men of his age, he wasn't about to let a little water defeat him.  
He stood up and carrying his sword in his left hand charged at the tree, slashing and cutting repeatedly. But after a while his arm gave a painful throb, and wincing he pointed his sword in the ground again, and sat down.  
He closed his eyes as he sat feeling the rain tapping on his head and shoulders, soaking his fur.

Then it stopped.  
His eyes blinked opened and he looked up to be startled.  
He hadn't even heard her approach, but Amy was standing there with her parasol smiling down at him.  
"Hey'a Shadow. I was looking all over for you."  
He gave her a stare and grunted, turning towards the tree again.  
'So much for clearing my head' He thought. But he didn't move. For one thing he was too tired.  
Amy sat down next him.  
"Had fun with your sword practice?"  
His ear twitched towards her and he gave a slow single nod.  
Amy was not to be deterred by his coolness.  
She was determined that she was going to get her friend back.  
"You look tired. How long have you been at it?"  
He rolled his eyes as if to mock the idea of exhaustion.  
"A while,"

He knew he was being a bit rude. And he also knew she didn't deserve it.  
He shivered as he felt a sudden breeze, the burst of air only magnified by the rain water that had him soaked.  
Amy saw the movement despite his effort to keep it controlled.  
"Oh! You must be freezing!"  
She took off the cloak and put it on his shoulders.  
For a moment he was startled as she came close and put it around his neck, and was about to protest, thinking something along the lines of him not being a baby. But at her touch he lost his train of thought, and the warmth from the cloth caused it to die down.  
She was too nice to him.  
She smiled at him, and he looked away unwilling to meet her eyes.  
"Thanks."  
He sighed inwardly.  
His plan to clearing the girl from his mind had completely backfired.

"It's starting to get late, come on!"  
Before he could protest she had grabbed his hand, pulling him up as she shoved his sword back to him, leading him off back towards the house.  
He let himself be guided back with her hand over his wrist like another teal member of the Rose family years ago.  
It made him feel, humiliatingly, like a child.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.


	5. Chapter 5

Thorns and Roses

"Aww, I'm really going to miss this place; that was a great vacation wasn't It Amy?"  
Cream was sitting on the floor of her and Amy's room, packing up all the extra possessions to make sure she wouldn't be leaving anything behind.   
Tomorrow the group would be heading home after their week long vacation.  
Amy, who was picking her clothes out for the next day smiled and agreed;  
She would miss the sounds of the ocean, and the tropical jungle.  
She would miss the garden and playing on the beach.  
But most of all she would miss her friends.

The day after tomorrow she would be heading back home, to her parent's castle.  
Unfortunately everyone else lived in different parts of the country, so the chances of actually seeing any of her friends was very slim, and just as she was getting used to living with them all.  
And with the post being as slow as it was, even if she wrote to them all, she knew that the closeness would fade away.  
Sadly she packed up the things she wouldn't be using and she out at the ocean view she would miss as she became lost in the thoughts.

She had other reasons she dreaded going back home.   
The suitors.

She grimaced.  
Ever since the age of fifteen she'd had to deal with prospective mates. The came from throughout country begging for her hand in marriage, which more meant the prospect of a higher title.   
They sent her flowers.   
They sent her letters.   
They sent her chocolates in neat little boxes that were made to keep it from melting.   
They sent her big hearts professing their undying love for her, and poems comparing her to every species of flower and bird known.  
Some sent her presents; little trinkets that said 'I love you', and teddy bears with hearts and flowers alike.  
And yet, 95% of the time, even when they swore on their father's graves that their very hearts beated only for her, she had never met them a day in her life.

There were a couple of times when she had seen one in passing, but even then, it was simply a glance in their direction during a convention.  
Or a slight wave during a parent's meeting.  
Or a polite hello during a dance.

But as much as she disliked the suitors at least the majority would go to her to ask.

There were a couple of little snakes who've had the audacity to ask her parents to force her into engagement, with all sorts of offers.  
A great many of the time they were the old Sirs who had gotten rich and well known through not one day of work of their own.  
There were a few who tried to bribe them, promising to pay large sums of money.  
There were others who tried to threaten to ruin their reputation.   
But gladly her parents had always refused.

They had enough money, and the Rose reputation was one of the best.  
Her father was a Baron after all; and he was famous around the country for how he had fought on the battle field, standing behind King Maximilian Acorn himself.  
So, for a while she had been safe.

But lately her parents had been acting somewhat suspicious.  
Whenever they were ever finished with a meeting they would be talking quietly among themselves and looking very serious, and as soon as she got close enough they would drop the conversation and pretend there was nothing wrong.

At first it hadn't bothered her because she figured they were just muttering about, as would be usual, how the title of Lord and Sir was being given out so freely to people like the man who had just walked out. But until now they never actually cared weather or not she heard what they said about these men.   
And after a while it became obvious that it had something to do with her.

Amy was interrupted in her musings as there was a knock at the door.  
When she answered t it was Rouge.

"Hello girls, you wouldn't have happened to see my hair brush have you?"  
They shook their heads and she sniffed unhappily as she strode off.  
"I can't find that thing anywhere."  
Not five minutes after she left. Knuckles came sneaking in he griningevilly at Rouge's back. They wondered what he was laughing about until he brought a silver hair brush out from behind his back.  
"Hey you two, if anyone asks, I was never in here."  
With that he ran out the room trying to be as quiet as possible, but being Knuckles he ran right into one of the tables in the hall.  
"Ouch!"  
Rouge turned to see him sprawled on the ground her brush next to him.  
"Umm… opps."  
He scrambled to his feet grabbing the brush and sprinted down the hallways, Rouge right on his tail.  
"OH NO SHE"S AFTER ME!!"  
"COME BACK HERE WITH MY HAIR BRUSH YOU IDIOT!!"  
"HEEEELPP"

"Go get him Rouge!" Sonic called after them as he popped his head out of the doorway out of one of the bed rooms.  
"Shut up Sonic, they're loud enough without you."  
Shadow was sitting crossed legged on the window seat with his hands on his knees and eyes closed, meditating.

"Aww, why so grumpy Shads? Oh I know! Your just sad cuz you're gonna miss me."  
Sonic flopped down on his bed, grabbing a small crystal ball on the nightstand.   
He flipped it in the air a couple of times, and just as Shadow was going to say something, SMASH!  
"Opps, When Tails gets back, it was all Knuckles fault."  
Shadow pinched his brow irritated, and got up to leave.  
All in all, the trip had been one of the more enjoyable ones he had been on with the rest of the group. 

It was nice to get away every once in a while, and he groaned as he thought about the work that would have accumulated while he was gone.  
He almost felt guilty about leaving Lawrence, the butler, and Madame Flitch in charge while he was off on holiday. Almost. But not quite.  
He frowned and he climbed to the roof once more.

Maybe he should visit his parents on the way back. He hadn't seen them in a while; now that he had his own lands to operate he had little need to go to his old home.  
Below him were still the muffled sounds of Rouge and Knuckles fighting. Playfully.  
It wasn't anything unusual: Rouge and Knuckles were close.  
Tails and Cream were now outside poking with a stick at a dead slug that had stayed out too long after the rain.

He rolled his eyes and started at the clouds in the sky over head, thinking to himself.  
At least he and Amy were friendly again, he thought idly.   
He wondered what she would do after they went home tomorrow.  
Amy was the only one who lived as far away from everyone else.

Sonic, Tails, Cream and Sally lived in the same county; the blue hedgehog also visiting frequently as he unofficial consort. A few towns away from there were Knuckles and Rouge. And Shadow lived by himself; his castle was at a village at the coast, which was 3 days away from Castle Acorn itself.

Amy on the other hand lived farther inland and towards the south, and it would take about a weeks travel to her home town.  
She was probably very lonely out there.

And speak of the devil. As he thought this, the door under his feet opened, and out came the pink hedgehog he had just been thinking about.  
He guessed that the balcony was something like her favorite spot.  
Silently his slid down off the roof and landed on his feet on the ground, walking up behind her.  
"Enjoying the view?"  
She spun around like she had on the first day here, with a startled look.   
"Stop doing that!" She said as he smirked down at her.

"I swear one of these days you're going to give me a heart attack!"  
"Oh relax. Nobody has ever died of being startled. I think." He added as an after thought.  
Amy grinned and turned back to the ocean, and groaned.  
"Why do we have to go back home? It's so cool here!"  
He grunted. Cool wouldn't have been his word of choice, but he got the jist of what she was saying.

As he looked down at her back, he felt a very strange, very sudden urge to rub her arms. Maybe it was how the breeze played with the long pink ponytail she usually wore, but she almost looked cold.  
Strange.  
Determinedly he crossed his arms.  
He looked away from her, suddenly aware of how the long spaghetti strapped dress showed off her waist and hips rather nicely, but then he stirred in embarrassment at the thoughts that brought him.  
He wondered if she was aware of what she caused in him. But she couldn't have been; she didn't even have to do anything to cause it.  
They stood there for a while; Amy admiring the ocean view, Shadow admiring a different sort of view.

Their observations were cut short though when they heard Sonic calling for everyone in the living room.  
"Okay guys, since it's our last night here together, we're going to send our vacation off with a bang! So let's go!"  
Sonic led the way down the steps to the beach.

For the rest of the day they were goofing around on the sand.  
They had a volley ball match which the boys won, but only by a little.  
They had a huge sand fight with no clear winner because at some point Knuckles got fed up with being the main target of Sonic, and tied him up into a tree for the others to pelt him in sand.  
They had a game of crab catching, which ended when Knuckles had to get one pried off his nose.

Tails caught some fish with a self made fishing rod, and was disappointed when he had to let one go; it had been too small.  
They explored the cave that Amy had found, where they found the very back wall was made of different colored crystals, they weren't valuable, but still pretty enough to make a souvenir.

Knuckles and Sonic had attempted to make their own moonshine with some of the tropical fruits they found and put it in a container to bring home.  
When the sun started to set they made a bond fire, and Sally taught Tails and Cream how to cook fish on it properly. 

Rouge even helped in prepared the crabs, to the intense sadistic pleasure of Knuckles, who even decided to help after a while.  
"Die you miserable crabs!!" He muttered scaring the others a little bit.  
After a great meal of seafood and fruit they had a game of tag in the dark, their flashlights shining everywhere like the bat signal.   
Amy and Sally set up a scavenger hunt for Cream and Tails, who were joined after a while by Sonic and Knuckles.

When the children were finished with their scavenger hunt they started to carve out designs in the pieces of crystal they had gotten from the cave.  
Cream made a heart the size of her palm for her mother, and Tails made a little snake.  
The others joined in after that; Rouge made a parody of a Chaos Emerald which was pretty good despite the fact is was fake.  
Knuckles attempted to make what he said was a dragon, but it looked more or less like a rock with gashes in it.   
Sonic was just as unlucky: his was supposed to be a shoe.  
Tails thought it looked like a lumpy potato; Cream said it could be a bunny. Rouge thought it was more like a fish; Knuckles thought it looked like poo, Sally was trying to be supportive but she agreed it looked like a potato.

"Hey Amy, what's yours?" Sonic asked curiously as he attempted to fix his potato.  
"It's a lily!" She replied happily.  
She showed him it happily, and he took it to examine it closer, but just as he was about to hand it over, Crack, he dropped it.  
"Umm, opps. Umm heh, heh, I can fix that."

He barely had time to run.  
"SONIC YOU JERK!"  
"IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!!"  
"YOU BROKE IT!"  
"AHH! DON'T HIT ME WITH THAT!"  
"DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH EFFORT THAT TOOK!"  
"AH! IM SORRY!!"  
Suddenly they were running around the beach, Amy trying to crush him with her Piko Mallet, and Sonic trying to dodge it.   
"DON'T JUST STAND THERE YOU GUYS!! HELP ME!!!"  
"Go get him Amy!" Knuckles shouted at them.

The others watched deeply amused.  
Finally though, Amy had caught Sonic, who now laid sprawled out in the sand, a huge lump on his head and quite unconscious.  
She got a few pats on the back by her amused friends, and Knuckles was doubled over laughing so hard it brought tears to his eyes.  
"That was the best show ever!"

"Even you're happy Shadow? I never thought I'd see the day."   
Rouge said mockingly.  
"Rouge," He said as he made a pleased face. "I am trying to enjoy this glorious moment. Please do not ruin it for me."  
They laughed as Tails and Cream with the help of Knuckles buried the unconscious hedgehog up to his neck in sand.   
They then watched as he stirred and looked up.  
"Oh hey guys. Um… did you all get taller or something?"  
They smirked.  
"Noo~ But you might want to look down."  
He glanced at where his body was suppose to be and screamed for help.  
"OMG!! WHAT THE HECK!! HELLLLP!!!"  
They laughed evilly as he tried to dig himself up.  
"Aww common guys this isn't cool!"  
Then his eyes widened and he turned his head, just as a wave came, pulled closer by the hide tied.  
"AHH!! HELP IM GONNA DROWN!!"  
It went over his head and fell back to the ocean; a bundle of seaweed had landed on his head.  
"Hellp!" He shouted as another wave came.  
"Think we should help him?" Amy said laughingly.  
"Nah, I'll give him a couple more waves first."  
"OH NO!! NOT THE CRABS!! AHHH!!"

Eventually they pulled out the drenched hedgehog he glared at them all angrily as he sat by the fire.  
"You're all a bunch of jerks..."  
For the rest of the evening they hung outside enjoying the beach and each others company. Cream promised Amy she would write her as much as she could, earning herself a big hug.   
Eventually though the day started to draw to a close as the moon went further over head.   
Cream and Tails had fallen asleep at the table.  
With much remorse the group decided to call it a night.

After Amy had gotten Cream into bed she went down to the empty living room, and sat putting her legs up on the foot rest in front of her chair.  
Today had been a great day.   
She looked around.   
She was still wide awake and she needed something to do.  
She got herself up and slid open the door to the balcony. She was going to miss it here.  
She sighed and stretched.  
She hadn't been in the garden for a while, so she made her way through the house and outside into the moon illuminated tropical paradise.  
She leaned against the trunk of a tree staring up to the moonlit sky. 

"Amy?"  
She turned at the voice, unsurprised that it would be Shadow.  
"Hey Shadow."  
He sighed and shook his head almost laughingly.  
"I might just have to get a restraining order on you."  
She looked affronted.  
"Hey buster! I was here first."  
He smirked.   
"Or were you? Last time I checked on our first day here YOU followed ME here."  
"It doesn't count if it were days ago."  
"Yes it does."  
"No it doesn't cuz that's not fair!"   
"And why would it not be fair Amy Rose?"  
"Because you're older, so I would never have a chance!"  
"Ah yes, I'm older. You should respect your elders young Lady."  
She grounded her teeth at him. And He smirked evilly.  
"Hmph! Whatever!"

She stormed off childishly with her nose pointed to the air, and he followed amused.  
After a while she stopped pretending to be annoyed as she came across a bunch of very pretty flowers.   
She kneeled and bent over them watching how they had opened their pedals widely.  
Then her attention was grabbed by a particular looking orange flower that was bigger than her head.   
"Wow! Its soo pretty~."

She smiled back at Shadow where he stood simply watching her.  
He walked over as she examined the flower closely. He hadn't even looked at it though.  
"Indeed it is."   
She glanced up at him and then towards the canopy, the moonlight shined through in bright rays of soft light.  
"You know, at first I thought that seeing you again would be a horrible idea."  
For a moment he felt horrible dropping feeling.. But what she said next completely erased it  
"But, I'm glad I was wrong. I'm really going to miss you Shadow."  
She smiled brightly at him and he just stared.  
That was all he could do.

The feeling of alarm vanished and now in its place was a wave of relief and that other indescribable that sent him forward to her side.  
"Rose?"  
She turned and smiled at him brightly, and their eyes met.  
And everything else slowed down again.  
Standing in the middle of a flower garden, moonlight cascading over everything and painting the world in it's white glow they were suddenly so close.  
His hands found her cheeks, and he swept away the hair that intruded onto her face with his thumbs.  
It was her wide eyes that did things like this to him, and when she bit her lower lip his mind drew a blank.  
Inside those rings of green there was that indescribable feeling, but there was also that other hint of something that he knew a little better; that bit of that longing.   
"Shadow?"  
He blinked.

And he sighed inwardly as he left the moment pass.  
He couldn't do this to her.  
He wanted to kiss her right then, but he couldn't.  
For one thing, he still had that promise he had made to himself.  
But another, and the more important:   
They would be leaving tomorrow.

He had probably done it many times to other people, but Amy was a whole different story. He couldn't lead her on anymore only to never see her again.  
He slowly dropped his hands to his sides.  
His eyes lingered on hers for a moment, and feeling very guilty he took her hand and led her back to the house.

\---

There were several ways to describe Amy's feelings.  
Sadness; disappointment; rejection…   
It had all happened so fast that she hadn't had the time to put on her brave face…  
But as they got closer to the house she tried to put on what she hoped was a smile.  
"I'll see you later Shadow."  
But as she turned to leave she was restrained as his arms came from behind her, and she was pulled into something like a hug.

And long after she had gotten in bed, and even as she laid there wide eyed and unable to sleep, it still played over and over again.  
It was all she could think about for the rest of the night, and was the last thing she thought about before she was sucked into sleep.

"I'll miss you too" was his soft whisper.


	6. Chapter 6

Thorns and Roses 

Holed up in his study of the Castle Acorn, King Maximillian was pouring over his maps and battle notes, spread out over the desk in his study. Something just wasn't right. He couldn't figure out exactly what it was; but somehow, somewhere something was wrong.

He scratched his head.  
There was something in his realm that did not make sense.

Three years ago they had been very close to war when bunch of renegade soldiers who called themselves the Black Arms appeared and started to attack them and the other countries surrounding the Kingdom of Acorn.  
Nobody knew where they came from: they had simply appeared out of nowhere claiming that they would destroy the whole world, and everything in it.  
They had several small battles: but they had been more like skirmishes for different areas.  
They would go; they would attack; they would destroy; but they always went back when they were done.

It was maddening! What was the point in even attacking if they weren't going to take over?!   
Annoyed, King Acorn massaged his temple.  
But despite the hardships the country had it all changed with the battle for Leung Kar. The Kingdom of Acorn had destroyed the Black Arms in that battle: and it was after this that they had disappeared.  
Not completely of course.

For the first time in three years, just a couple of months ago they had been sighted again; they had lead an attack on Furville, and were defeated badly, but that still left a lot of unanswered questions. Like where they were now; and what were they doing?  
Abruptly his thoughts were interrupted as Sally, his only daughter and youngest of two children entered.

"Hi Daddy; what's going on?"   
She gave him a hug and looked over his shoulder at the papers on his desk.  
Most girls wouldn't have been able to understand what they were; but King Acorn knew better. Sally Acorn would immediately recognize them as battle plans.

"Ah nothing sweetie; how are you?"  
He said hastily moving the papers out of sight.  
He noted as she frowned slightly and rolled her eyes.  
"I'm fine I guess. I'm sort of disappointed my own father can't trust me to see a bunch of old papers though."  
"Oh no Sally dear; It's not at all that I don't trust you."  
"Then why are you trying to hide your battle plans from me?"  
"That's exactly why Sally: you should be focusing on other things: you're a princess: it simply isn't proper for a young lady to deal with this type of thing"  
"Hmph! Shouldn't you be thrilled that I'm actually thinking of something OTHER than dressing up and spending money?"  
Her father chuckled at this. His other friends were always complaining about how their daughters would have them bankrupt.  
"I suppose I should be, and I actually appreciate it. But Sally, everyone has their place in life. One day you'll understand that!"  
"Oh fine, fine! I'll leave you to your important documents then."  
As she left King Acorn shook his head.   
"Daughters."

~~~~~~

"Rise and shine my dear." shouted a voice out of the darkness that warm, fuzzy darkness that engulfed Amy's consciousness. The voice sounded muffled; far away; and Amy was reluctant to come closer.  
She rolled over in her bed, covered by the huge soft comforter.  
She muttered tiredly to be left alone.  
She just wanted to sleep.  
But suddenly her face was hit with a very, very bright light.  
She groaned and she rubbed her eyes, trying to get rid of the red spots that were blocking her view.

"You did that on purpose Sheryl!"  
"All I did was try to wake you up; now come here and eat your breakfast! We have to get you ready to meet Lord Caprielle today."  
Amy groaned as she sat at the table where her breakfast was waiting.  
Another one visiting today.

"Do I have to go?"  
"Well of course you do: He's coming all this way just to meet you! And you had better be on your best behavior; your parents might let you get away with it, but your actions are a reflection of the way I've helped to raise you! So please no funny stuff today!"  
"Alright, alright; I'll be on my best behavior."  
She muttered as she ate her breakfast.  
"I really don't know why I put up with this!" She said to herself when Sheryl had left.

After her breakfast she took a nice morning shower to help relive her new-coming stress.  
As much as she loved her parents and her home, she needed to get out of here.  
She had no friends around since most of the other nobles her age lived so far off.   
For days on end she would be left alone to entertain herself.  
But even before at least she had been able to explore outside a little.  
But now-a-days her parents discouraged her from her adventures.

Lately she was more irritable, and unhappy and she had developed a bad habit of pacing back and forth like a caged tiger.  
Her parents weren't cruel but the least they could do was let her outside the house every once in a while.  
But apparently it wasn't proper for a lady to explore so much.  
Ladies had to sit still and quiet and stay that way all day long.

She gave an aggravated sigh;  
And when she was in her room all day she was entertaining guests.  
There were the suitors who mostly ignored her like she was some sort of child, or it was the old noble ladies from around who visited often for "teas" as her mom called it.  
She hated it.  
Because her mother always made her attend those things, only for her to be bored, until the ladies would get on the subject of Amy and all the things that made her such an unsatisfactory person.  
Then they would compare her to themselves back when they were her age.  
It was sickening.  
Who cared if her knees were knobby or if her shoulders were too wide?  
Besides herself of course; but she didn't need them to point it all out!

She could really use someone to talk to…  
Almost anyone would do; as long as they weren't one of her suitors, or an old lady.

With a groan she got up and went to her dressing room to get ready to meet "Lord what's his face".

 

~~~~~ 

 

That morning Amy wasn't the only person having trouble getting up.

Shadow had gone to bed late. Again.  
There was simply too much work to do for one day, and so he usually stayed up until well past midnight, working to meet the needs of the people he was in charge of protecting.  
They had better be grateful. 

His room was nearly pitch black despite it almost being noon already, but that was due to the heavy black curtains that effectively kept all sunlight out of his domain.  
That is until the brave soul that was his butler decided to open them up.  
"Good afternoon sir!" He called as the black hedgehog turned over and curled into a ball muttering about five more minutes.  
Lawrence had been serving this family for many years: starting with Shadow's father, and so he had no fear in making sure his master did his job.

"Sir, that is completely out of the question: you still have work to do and half the day has flown by already."  
Lawrence brought the tired hedgehog a tray of breakfast, as Shadow sleepily stretched and rubbed his eyes. 

After finishing his breakfast, and grooming he headed to his work study where, yet another huge stack of a letters and legal documents for him to sign awaited.

There were proposals for new laws, taxes, zoning laws, regulations, and his worst pet peeve complaints and pleas from the villagers.

Now, he didn't mind helping the common people out: that was his job as a Baron.  
And some of them were valid:  
For example, Because of new laws on taxes, many farmers were having a hard time making ends meet these days,

But most of them were the biggest bunch of bull he was not paid enough to deal with!  
For the rest of the morning he had to suffer reading through letter after letter of bizarre claims made by the biggest bunch of fools he would find.

By lunch time he was ready to go down to the village itself to perform a mass execution.  
And he probably would have too, if Lawrence hadn't come in with his lunch and a pile of personal letters sent by people he actually knew.

~~~~~ 

Amy squirmed in her seat.  
He was staring at her again.  
Through her hair she glanced up and shuddered as her eyes almost met the gaze of young Lord Caprielle.

He and his father had arrived almost an hour ago and Amy was becoming more and more anxious as the minutes ticked by, and she wished she was somewhere else right now.

The immensely huge Lord Caprielle senior was talking boisterously with her parents about some very boring conversation that couldn't spark her interest even she sort of wished it did: then she wouldn't be quite as aware of the very creepy stare she was receiving from the young man across from her.

His son was rather skinny with the look of someone used to being ignored and unnoticed. And it was slowly becoming obvious that that's what usually happened: because as soon as they had walked through the door his father had conducted everything as though Lord Caprielle Jr. wasn't there.

At first she felt a bit sorry for him and how he was being treated, and she had attempted to be friendly: giving him an encouraging smile; but since then she was starting to regret it; He just wouldn't stop staring at her.

It actually wasn't the fact he was staring: she was somewhat used to being stared at actually.  
At almost all the social gatherings she received quite a bit of attention simply for the fact she was a Lady: and one of the biggest things about nobility was their obsession for reputation and gossip. That was the usual type of staring she got.

The only other time she'd had a problem with someone staring at her was with shadow: but even then it wasn't something uncomfortable; she had wondered before what he was staring for but it was the way he stared that made the difference.

When Shadow stared at her even though she didn't know what his motivation was, the vibe she got wasn't dangerous or threatening; quite the opposite.  
But now the stare she was getting was very uncomfortable.

Things like this rarely got under her skin: she was for the most part always calm and collected; easily able to keep up her friendly inviting mask up.  
But she was having more difficulty than usual: she was bothered to the point she was almost scared.

"Isn't that right Amy?"  
Her father's voice broke through her thoughts and Amy forced a small smile:  
"Oh yea, right."

She tried to pay more attention to the conversation. But her parents had gone on to the topic of estates or something.  
Very boring.

Avoiding Caprielle Jr.'s eyes she turned her attention outside the window.

The sky was such a pretty colored blue: and huge fluffy clouds floated lazily across the skyline. She watched the small humming bird that had appeared in front of the window to collect nectar from the tree next to it.  
Idly she wondered how everyone else was doing.

Was Sonic having fun with his family on their vacation to Angle Island?  
He was probably exploring: he didn't like the beach since he couldn't swim.  
The image of him almost drowning came to mind and smiled slightly.

She wondered how he and Sally were doing: Cream said in her last letter that she confided in Rouge that some other girl named Mina was starting to hang around him, but he never appeared to notice.

She wondered how Tails was: probably working on another one of his little inventions of his. Hopefully one of them might actually work one day…

And Knuckles and Rouge were probably having lots of fun together since they lived so close. She wished them the very best.

And then there was Shadow…  
What could he possibly be doing…?

"Amy?"  
She looked around and her face flushed as she realized they were all looking at her.  
"Umm, sorry; I guess I blanked out there… What happened?"  
Her mother shook her head; what was she going to do with this child.  
"Lord Caprielle was just asking what activities you like to do"  
"Oh, well… I guess I like a lot of activities… I'm willing to try anything anyway…"  
She looked at the big man as she talked avoiding his sons look.

"Ah! An adventurer! You hear that Juan? Ah yes: everyone needs a bit of excitement! Not just sitting around getting fat like me! Ha, ha! I've always tried to do something fun outside, but I dear say it's a bit to late to start exercising these day: what with my back problems and all that… So Young Lady: you like adventure, but how about some good old fashion literature?"

At least she had something to take her mind off of the creepy stare she was getting.  
If anything Juan Caprielle was staring harder than ever!

At noon though her momentary relief evaporated, as her mother suggested she and Juan take a walk and get to know each other while the adults talked.

Amy knew her mother was trying to be nice: she was always asking if she could just go outside: but this time she was very fearful to comply.

~~~~~ 

Shadow sighed as he looked out the window of his castle.  
He knew he should have just gone straight to his parent's place.  
He had just received a letter from his mother: apparently they needed him to come home and discuss some things. He had no idea what they might be, but he still didn't like the sound of it.  
He was a man after all: he was even running his own village! But, he was still young, and until he was 30 he his parents still had an amount of legal authority over him. Being ordered around by his parents was something that would not sit well with him, but he had to obey them… for the moment.

Silently he turned his back on the window pondering what exactly his parents had in mind, as he went to go pack the few things he would need for his trip.

~~~~~ 

Amy looked around her garden nervously, looking around to see if there was anyone about, and to avoid the gaze of Lord Caprielle.

She looked around for some type of distraction.  
She pretended to be interested in a little butterfly walking after it in mock interest.  
He followed after her silently and it didn't work.

She tried to find interest in the pond of coy, watching the little orange and white gold fish float along calmly.  
She could feel his stare on her back, and it didn't work.  
It wasn't until out of the corner of her eye she saw something that distracted her.  
She took a double take at the bush of roses and her thoughts sparked elsewhere.  
She guessed it was the color of them because her mind went right to a certain someone…  
Shadow…  
She stared at them in a daze.

What was he doing right now?  
She knew he lived near the ocean.  
She pictured a tropical wonderland, much like the vacation home.  
Would he be outside out in the wilderness right now?  
She couldn't picture him staying indoors and enjoying it  
Maybe reading a nice book, but he didn't belong behind a desk in a stuffy old office.

She sighed and was dragged out of her thoughts as the young baron next to her finally spoke up for the first time since she'd met him.  
"You're pretty."  
She glanced up and could feel her sweat drop.  
For any other person in the world she would have taken it as a complement; but for this guy, there was something in the way he said it, and there was also how the look in his eyes that was causing her such distress had become much more pronounced.   
"Oh, um, thank you for saying so" She said politely.  
For a second his eyes glinted most frighteningly, but he was cut off.  
The parents were calling form the front of the house for them.  
"Amy! The Caprielles are leaving!"  
"Yes, quite, come on son! We are due back at our grand castle by nightfall!"  
Amy grinned relived and walked quickly towards her parents leaving Lord Caprielle behind before he started to follow.  
The Rose family waved goodbye, Amy still being aware that the younger gentleman was still staring at her, before they closed the doors to their castle.  
"I'm really sorry," Amy's father was saying, "But I can not say how relived I am that they are gone!"  
"You and me both sweetie" Amy's mother said.   
"Oh you guys too?" Amy said crossing her arm, raising her brow and smirking.  
Her father laughed and patted his daughter on the head.  
"Yes. I don't know what it is about that boy, but I have a bad feeling about him…"  
"His father was quite lovely though"   
Her father snorted.  
"You think every Lord who walks through that door is 'lovely'"  
Her mother looked aghast.  
"What do you mean?"  
Her father smirked childishly.  
"Oh nothing Dearest, I am just joking."  
Amy's mother spat her tongue at her father.  
"Hmph. You might not want to say that again. Remember that you weren't the first baron to come to me."  
Her father grinned and gave her a hug from behind kissing her on the cheek.  
"I know, but I am still the greatest"  
They laughed at each other and Amy smiled.  
She wanted a marriage like that when she grew up…

"Come on you two, dinner will be soon, and we don't want to offend the cook~"

~~~~~ 

"Damn it!" Shadow cursed as he held onto his bleeding forearm.  
He drew on the reigns of his horse and sheathed his sword.  
"To think that he wonded me. Me?!"

He glared over his shoulder down the road.  
Although he was by now miles away, he knew that somewhere along that road was a dead man bleeding in the streets.  
He smirked vindictively: that's what he got.

Shadow had been riding hard on his way to the home of his parents when he came upon the stupid young man at one of the bridges on the way.  
He was a young Sir who was obviously new to the whole fighting at arms deal.  
He tried to warn him.  
After all; Shadow was well known through out the entire country for his skill at arms: he wasn't called the ultimate life form for nothing, and even if he hadn't inherited his title, he would have earned it if that were the case.  
But the younger knight wouldn't listen and so he challenged Shadow to armed combat.

The boy wasn't very talented, and he wasn't very good.  
He easily lost his balance and he could barley hold on to his sword, which Shadow guessed wasn't originally his in the first place: it was way too big and unbalanced a weapon in the first place.

At first Shadow planned to go easy on the kid, but after a while his patients wore thin; the kid was a sore loser and would not stay down and admit to his defeat.  
Then it happened: Shadow caught the boy off guard, the young sir lost his balance, and as the idiot tried to stay straight, he flailed his arms around like a madman and hit Shadow on the shoulder.  
That's what got Shadow really pissed.  
And now the boy was dead, and Shadow was wounded unnecessarily.  
Shadow picked up a bandage from his pouch, putting it between his teeth as he put his bag away, and attempted to stifle the bleeding with it. It wasn't perfect but it would do.

Softly he heeled his horse at the sides and took off.  
"Great. Now I won't get there till dark…"

~~~~~ 

He had been right about getting to his parents castle after dark.  
The moon was full over head as he and his horse skidded to a halt in front of the great stone fortress. 

Immediately as he stopped he could see the tall balding figure of Jason the butler, followed by a young boy.

He slid off his horse, handing the reigns to the boy who was apparently the stable boy.  
Jason stopped in front of him and bowed deeply.  
"Good Evening Sir!"  
"Hello Jason, good to see you. Could you tell me what is happening?"  
"I'm sorry sir, I am sworn to secrecy. Right this way if you please."  
Jason led him through the front doors and to the room to their right.  
This was the dinning room.

At the end of the great long dinning table sat his father and mother who were sitting, and eating in conversation when he entered.  
As soon as she spotted him, his mother was there a split second later greeting him enthusiastically.

"Oh my goodness Shadow! Welcome back! Your father and I have missed you! My look how you've grown! You've gotten taller since last time I've seen you!"  
Shadow couldn't help but sigh humorously as his mother doted on him.  
"Hello mother" He said receiving another hug.

"Father" He nodded towards the end of the table where his father was still sitting, smiling as he watched his wife and child's family moment. His father gave a short sort of wave in his direction before standing up and walking over.

"Ah Son, it's good to see you. I'm glad you decided to show up"  
"Yes, we worried when we realized you were so late! What happened?"  
Her eye caught on his wounded arm and Shadow shook his head, annoyed.  
"An idiot with a sword decided to challenge me to a duel. He got a cheap shot; I beat him, and now I'm here."  
He shrugged noncommittally.  
And his parents glanced at each other.  
"And what happened to the opponent?" His father asked frowning.  
Shadow shrugged again, avoiding his mother's eyes pointedly.  
"I tried to hold back but in the end he forced my hand."  
"And?"  
Shadow sighed and a rebellious tone mixed into his voice.  
"He's dead."  
His father sighed and his mother looked a bit relived.  
"Do you wish I would have let him kill me or something?" Shadow growled, his ears pulling back.  
"No that is not what I wish: I just wish it could have been resolved differently."  
"If I had been able to I would have! But I had no choice did I?"  
"You did have choice. You didn't HAVE to kill him."  
Shadow and his father glared at each other.

Some family reunion this was turning out to be.  
Shadow's mom broke the two up pushing them away from each other.  
"My dear, its sounds as though if he had been left alive, he could have done something serious to someone! We both know how much damage a fool with a weapon can do."  
She raised an eyebrow and Malcolm looked away pointedly.  
"Hmph."  
He turned away and mumbled to himself.  
"You make one mistake and she holds it over your head for the rest of your life! Hmph! Whatever!"  
"Anyway, I guess we'll have to leave what it was we wanted to talk to you about for tomorrow. Are you hungry? Oh, and we must get your arm looked out!"  
He nodded and followed his parents as his mother fretted on.


	7. Chapter 7

Thorns and Roses 

"I refuse."  
Two words. That was it. Shadow was NOT about to do this.  
He loved and respected his parents, and he usually honored their decisions for him even if he did so grudgingly.   
But this time he refused.

With a nod of dismissal to the maid at the door, Lady Robotnik glanced at her son with something of a bored look.  
"Shadow. We are not going to argue about this: Everything has already been decided."  
Shadows mother sighed as her son sat there glaring at her silently.  
She had expected him to act like this.

"Look. We really try not to butt into your life as much as possible: but this is a decision that we have got to make for you."  
"Why the hell would you HAVE to decide who the heck I marry! And why now?"  
"Language Shadow. And you know very well why. If you had it your way you would be a bachelor for life, and as distasteful as it may be for you; you are our only child and as such it's up to you to carry on our name. I want grandchildren Shadow!"

"No. I refuse. I am NOT getting married."  
"Yes you are. You are already committed to this. We made the decision back when you were still a child! We can't possibly back out of it now."

Shadow turned his head away from his mother, placing his forehead in his hand and glaring outside the window.

He was not going to do it.  
He didn't care how much legal authority his parents had over him, and he didn't care how long ago this arrangement was made. He was NOT going to do it.  
He would go to this girl's house right now and cancel the marriage if he had to. 

And the girl herself.  
He didn't know her yet, and he didn't care to know her.  
He did NOT have the time or patience to worry about some woman he barley knew clinging on to him. In his minds eye he imagined an ugly lady smeared in make-up and tittering stupidly, touching his stuff and bothering everything in his life from his home to his person.  
Who ever this girl was she could just go and stuff it.  
"Do I even know the girl?"

"Yes, you've met her before and I'm sure you'll remember her when we visit."  
"Visit?"  
"Yes, we are to go and meet your fiancé in a couple of days. Lawrence will arrive with the rest of your stuff."

How could this be happening.  
First his parents tell him he his betrothed to some mystery woman, and then the next minute they are telling him that he would be meeting her in a few day's time.

"Can you tell me who they are?"  
His mother laughed and smirked.  
"Ha! So you can run off to meet with her and cancel your engagement ? I think not. Everyone has been told explicitly not to inform you on who this person is.

He snarled clenching his fist refusing to look at her.

His mother looked at him with a mixture of pity and sadness.  
"I'm sorry Shadow, but you need this. It is what is best." 

Oh but Shadow would meet her all right; he would meet her and tell her right to her face that he had no intention of getting married and she could rot in hell.

"And you are under no circumstances say anything to this girl that might upset her in any way. She is in the very same boat that you're in. And who knows; maybe she'll be the type to leave you alone to your own devices during your marriage. That's becoming very common these days. Or maybe you'll find that you like her?"

He snorted and glared out the window again.  
This was just great.

He stood up and stomped out the room angrily.  
He was heading to the library.  
He WOULD find a loop hole out of this engagement if it was the last thing he did.

~~~~~~ 

Amy giggled as she sat by the hedges of her garden.  
A couple of days ago her parents had hired this young man, Max Lockheed, as their gardener, and he's hit it off with the young Lady from the moment they met.

He was currently kneeling along the garden path, taking care of the Morning Glories when he stretched out, taking the straw hat off his head and rubbing his face with the back of his hand. 

"It's a hot day today, isn't it?"  
Amy laughed.  
"For you maybe, but I am fine."

Max glanced over to where Amy was sitting in the shade. At that moment a breeze came through.  
"So, what's your favorite type of flower?"  
Amy cocked her head as she pondered.  
She liked way too many.  
"I really don't know. Petunias are always pretty, but I like wall flowers too."

Amy could never say how pleased she was to finally have someone to hangout with.  
Max was only a few years older than her, so it was easy to have a conversation of an equal level, and after her months of isolation it was good to have a friend.

"Heh, I would'a thought you would say roses or something."  
"Everyone says that to me. I get that my last name is rose, but I don't know, you would think they could find a new pun for it."

Max grinned at her, about to respond when Amy heard her mother calling.  
"I have to go now." She sighed as she stood, giving a playful curtsy.  
"Gooday my good sir; Thanks for keeping me company"  
He smiled.  
"No problem; I enjoyed it!"

\-------- 

In the study of the Rose's Castle, Lord Albert sat behind his desk, his reading glasses on his face, flipping through and signing papers as his wife stood in front of the window watching over the garden.  
"So, when are we expecting them?" He called, not looking up from his work.  
"If the weather stays as nice as this, then on Friday; that'll give Amy a couple of days to calm down after you tell her."  
"Hmm? I thought that you were telling her."  
Slowly Lady Rose turned to her husband, smiling in a way that made him extremely concerned for his well being.  
"You know how it is with Amy, my dear, you're her father and Amy will be more willing to listen: she's a daddy's girl through and through."  
"Hmm, You just don't want her coming after you with that hammer of hers. Please tell me again why your mother decided to give her that thing?"  
Amy's mother shrugged.  
"I don't know. Something about a young lady needing to protect herself or something. At the time I thought it was a good decision."  
"Only because she hasn't hit you yet."   
He rubbed his head as he remembered the day he had the misfortune to cross his daughter. He was a war veteran; he had seen much carnage and he could be incredibly scary himself. But his daughter was on another level because of that family heirloom. He would never forget the feeling of having that mallet crashing down on his skull.  
It was a wonder how he lived through it, and how that girl could even carry the thing.  
He glanced over to his wife.  
Then again… his wife DID hit pretty hard herself… and her mother before her was a lot worse.  
He \heaved a sigh.  
Why did he always end up surrounded by very strong women?  
"Why didn't you just give her those tarot cards of yours? See; there's something completely non-violent!"  
His wife smirked.  
"Who said they were always nonviolent, dear-heart.?"  
"Eh? What do you mean?"  
"Well~ you do know what tarot cards do right? They tell the reader the past the present and the future. But it's also common knowledge that tarot card readers are able to change the future as well."  
"Umm… do I want to know where this is going?"  
She continued to smirk at him evilly, and he decided he needed to watch his back a bit more.   
'Oh Amy; WHY do you have to go and get married and leave me here with her?!'

~~~~~ 

Shadow glared angrily outside the window of the carriage he shared with his parents.  
Who ever this person was, why the did their family have to live so far away? If he was going to be forced into marriage, why did the world insist on making it as tedious as possible?

The group had left five days before on the way to wherever they were going.  
And to his dismay; his parents had been completely thorough in keeping their destination a secret.  
He wasn't even sure when they would arrive, or how long they were staying.  
Lawrence had packed everything for him, so he couldn't figure it out in how much was packed.

He glanced around the carriage.  
To his right his mother sat on one end of the chessboard that lay on the table between his parents, and across from him to the left sat his father, who was reading the news as he moved his pieces.

Shadow huffed.  
He was bored.  
He wished he'd brought more books to read for the trip.  
He glanced over to the pile of books that lay across from him under the seats.

His parents wouldn't even let him ride outside for fear of him running away; not that he could complain seeing as that was the plan when he asked.

He thought about this mystery girl and his glare became more pronounced.  
He still wasn't sure what type of girl she was; but he really didn't care.  
As soon as they were married he would leave her to her own devices.  
She could live wherever the hell she wanted, sleep with whoever the hell she wanted, and she would leave him alone or else.  
That might have been cruel, but he really couldn't bring himself to care, not even a little.  
At least he wasn't going to lock her up in a dungeon somewhere and starve her to death; it's been known to happen around the country: especially since women in general did not have the same rights that men had.

He wasn't exactly sure if he agreed with it though.  
On one hand, it was nice to be dominant.  
On the other, he thought with a shiver there were women like his mother who he knew he would never consider himself above.

He glanced over to the chess game.  
"King me" His mother was saying.

His father had put the paper down and was now staring at the board, completely interested in it.  
He moved his hand over to a piece to his right and his mother smirked, causing him to hesitate and move his hand to a different piece to the center.  
His mother smirked more and so he moved to a different piece, making his move when his mother didn't respond. But it was the wrong move.  
"Hohohohoh" Immediately she captured all of his pieces and the game was over. "Checkmate! Pay up sweetie."

Shadow's father gritted his teeth as he took out his wallet.  
"You tricked me"  
"It was not a trick."  
"Peh! I demand a rematch."  
"Ohh~ Anxious for another beating I see" 

Shadow felt his sweat drop as they set up the chess board again.  
Yes.  
Women like his mother scared him sometimes…

~~~~~~ 

Amy stood at center of the hall, her arms down in front of her, her hands pointing to each other, and she took a deep breath her eyes closed.

She stepped forward bringing her left arm up and in front of her, and her right up behind her in a wide sweeping motion, and leaned forward bringing her right leg up as she balanced on her toes.

She was dancing.

Keeping her face straight she brought her feet together and turned on her toes putting her arms to her sides pointing her hands outwards and behind her, and she made small tip-toed steps to her left, pivoting on her right foot again, bringing her arms up again like wings.

She leaped turning and swaying to the music that played in her mind.  
She wasn't sure what tune she was recalling, but it spoke to her subconsciously; as if it were something important: like a piece of a puzzle.

She stopped as the song in her head ended and gave a start as she opened her eyes and in the huge mirror that covered the walls she saw her father as he appeared through the doorway clapping.

"Bravo Amy! And what dance is that one called?" He smirked mischievously "Clumsy swan or graceful hippo?"  
Amy crossed her arms angrily.  
"Nay I was thinking of calling it 'lifeless father'."  
Her father grinned at her and ruffled her hair playfully.

"You know I was joking Amy~ you definitely dance better than your mother at least."  
They laughed.  
"Don't let her catch you saying that! You remember last time you insulted her."  
"Ugh! My back has never been the same ever since. She did make up for it the next night however"  
"Eww! Dad! I don't need to know what you and mother do at night!"   
He chuckled, giving her a one armed hug as they walked out into the hall.  
"At least we don't have to pretend it was the stork any more."  
"To think, for the first 15 years of my life you tell me a huge bird dropped me on your doorstep, then for the next 2 you put all your business out there."  
"Hee, hee, that's the way it goes. And if memory serves, it'll be three years soon."  
"Yea; can you believe it? I'm almost eighteen!"  
"Hmm. I know what you mean. It feels like just yesterday I was holding you in my arms meeting my little baby girl. You were so tiny when you were first born. And NOW you're almost all grown up!… I miss those days when you used to cling on to me all time. "Daddy come play with me!" "Daddy, see what I did?""  
"Aww~ I feel so loved now. Heh, heh."

Smiling she gave him a warm hug, and he ruffled her hair again feeling bitter-sweet.  
He supposed he should tell her about the whole engagement thing. But. He simply couldn't do it.  
He looked down at his daughter's face, as a wave of protectiveness and sadness washed over him.  
Maybe he could postpone it for now; until he was better prepared.  
Although, and he knew, nothing can prepare a parent to let go of their child.

 

~~~~~ 

The day came sooner than expected for Amy's father.  
Only three days later Amy walked along the path of the garden towards the voice of her mother's calling.  
She had just been in the back talking with Max.  
He was really starting to grow on her.  
"I'm coming Mother!"  
She said as she turned the corner, and she raised an eye brow as she saw both her parents standing in the front, along with several of the staff.  
Something was happening.

"What's going on?"   
Her mother looked around at her and gave a sigh of relief.

"Ah, there you are Amy."  
She walked swiftly over, flicking at parts of Amy's hair.  
"Our guests will be here any moment now."  
"Guests? What guests?"

Her mother stepped back and looked at her.  
"You mean you don't know?"  
"I don't know what?"  
Cheerfully Lord Albert approached his wife and daughter.  
"Ah there you are Amy~ looking lovely. Are they here yet?"  
"No they are not but dear, I thought I told you to tell Amy days ago!"  
"Tell me what?"  
Amy's parents looked at each other.  
"Dad? Who are these guests?"

Just then from around the corner came the sound of horse and carriage as the long awaited guests arrived.  
But Amy was still preoccupied trying to figure out what was going on to notice, even as the coach road forward, swinging to a stop in front of the door. There was a moment of movement as the doormen released steps and the family had stepped out.

"Ah there they are!" Her father said. "Amy, come and meet..." 

Amy finally turned, and she felt her heart sputter and stop.  
Because there standing in front of her house was a person she least expected to see;  
It was a very familiar face.

The face, of Shadow the hedgehog.  
"Shadow; your fiancé."

~~~~~ 

Shadow couldn't take it anymore and he sat, pinching his eyebrows, in the carriage.  
Today would mark a week of being cramped up in the darned thing every day.

"Are we there yet?!"  
"Actually honey, we ARE almost there." His mother replied happily.  
"What?"

He leaned over to the window looking at his surroundings.  
Well; for one thing he knew they were in the country.  
He could see the white mansions sitting gracefully centered in the middle of huge fields separated each by over grown forest, the odd gigantic tree breaking the space between the woods and the houses.

He wasn't sure how he felt at the moment.  
He was relived to finally be getting out of this stupid contraption, but he was definitely not looking forward to meet his betrothed.

Exasperated he sighed.  
"Do I really have to do this?" He asked for maybe the 13th time in the last 24 hours.  
"Yes Shadow."  
Shadow's father smirked as he set down the newspaper and packed it in the small duffle bag by his foot.

"It won't be so bad you know; maybe you might even learn to like her"  
"Humph! I doubt it!"

Behind his back his parents were smirking; they knew he would learn to like her.   
If he didn't already.   
The main reason they were planning this union with this girl in particular was because, if there was anyone on this planet who could make their son happy, it would be she.

His mother stretched and looked out her window.  
"I can see their house already. Shadow, get ready to get out."  
Shadow sighed and leaned forward in his seat, his arms on his knees as thoughts buzzed around his head angrily.  
He took a breath and calmed himself, ready to put his guard up now that he was meeting these new unknown people.

He closed his eyes as the carriage stopped.  
He took another breath as his parents exited, and  
Finally he sucked it up and he climbed out of the car, his eyes still shut.  
And when he opened them, he was in for the surprise of his life.

Even as she had her back turned to him, he could recognize that pink figure anywhere.  
Right in front of him, was the girl he had not expected to see again; Amy rose.

First he was shocked just at the fact of seeing her, but then it dawned on him;  
THIS was the girl he was betrothed to!

He frowned, suddenly suspicious; was this her doing? Did she know?

His ears registered what her father was saying;  
"Ah there they are!" Her father said. "Amy, come and meet..."

His lungs froze as she turned her head around to look at him, and his mind calculated as he registered the look of astonishment as their eyes met.

He heard her say his name quietly and confused.  
"Shadow?"  
"...Shadow; your fiancé."

There was silence.  
Shadow could see behind the pink female's eyes as the gears in her mind tried to work it out, as it tried to link what was going on with what her father was saying; then he saw her eyes change as it finally dawned on her.

Her mouth went into a straight line, and her eyes steeled over.  
"What?"

Shadow quirked a brow;  
Maybe she hadn't known.

 

Her mother answered for her father;  
He said "Meet your fiancé."  
Amy's face didn't change as she closed her eyes.  
'Danger' suddenly flashed before Shadow's brain as her fist clenched.

"That's what I thought he said."  
Suddenly Amy's face brightened like the sun and she turned to her father. Her voice sounded sugary sweet as she talked, but under the sound of cheerfulness Shadow could sense an explosion.   
"Daddy~? May I pretty please talk to you really, really quickly~?"

Apparently Amy's parents could sense the danger too, because he suddenly looked nervous.  
"Oh, uh, can't it wait pumpkin?"  
"Please?"  
Shadow quirked a brow: she still had that same innocent happy voice, but there was a hidden steal to it; this was an order.  
"Umm, heh, all right sweetie."

Slowly her father started to walk backwards almost running as Amy followed closely, still smiling cheerfully.  
Her father was playing with his collar uncomfortably as he stopped at the edge of the grass. And there was a pause.

And then came the eruption;

"!!!!!!!!YOU ARE DEAD MEAT!!!!!!!!"  
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"  
Amy lunged at her father as a humongous mallet popped out of no where into her hand, and suddenly Amy was chasing her father around the yard, swinging her hammer around dangerously as she aimed for him.  
"HEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLPPPPPP!!!!!!!"

Then Amy's mother and Shadow's parents were laughing at the scene as Amy attempted to annihilate the Lord Rose.  
And even Shadow found himself smirking out of amusement and even satisfaction.   
Maybe this marriage wasn't going to be as bad as he thought.


	8. Chapter 8

Thorns and Roses

Amy heaved a sigh as she sat in her room, resting her chin on her arms on the cushion in her lap.

She was upset, and justly so.  
After all, she'd just found out that she was to be married to somebody that she hadn't chose for herself, and that her father hadn't even deigned to warned her about it.

This type of thing should be illegal.

She huffed at her bangs and frowned towards the window. Suddenly the bright sunny day did not look so pristine anymore.  
About an hour ago after her mother began to feel sorry for her father, she'd managed to tear Amy off and the helping hands brought him to bed she'd stomped off to sulk for a while.

She looked down at the pillow to sigh once more.  
Maybe she'd never expected her parents to do such a thing?  
She knew she was being a bit childish... but it was just so unfair!  
She just wasn't ready to get married.  
Much less to someone she wasn't madly deeply in love with.

She pushed herself off her bed and headed towards the window.  
"Ah, you seem to have calmed down then."

Amy spun around at the voice and her heart gave a spasm of surprise as she saw Shadow standing at the open door of her bedroom, but the surprise turned quickly to annoyance.  
Quite frankly Shadow was the last person she wanted to see right now; surprising seeing as only weeks ago he was the one person she WANTED to see.  
But she was angry.  
Fuming.  
Steaming.  
And she had nobody else to blame while Shadow so readily put himself in the way.

"What do YOU want!" She asked harshly,folding her arm's over her chest in a movement that caused Shadow's eyebrow to rise.  
As much as he understood Amy's anger, He was in the same boat as SHE was.

The feelings that had been buried the time he'd seen her last began to resurface; but instead of flowing to the top gracefully instead it came up like bubbling poison.  
No he didn't hate her, but suddenly he didn't like her quite as much as he had when he last saw her.  
Maybe that was the blessing of time.

He snorted and ignore her comment as he stepped in her room and looked around disinterestedly.

Her room was…decorative.  
Among the stone walls hung long curtains of white and lavender, the carpet was white and her bed had different shades of purples and pinks coloring it.

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye and snorted at the glare he was receiving.  
"Nice room" He muttered almost sarcastically, and Amy continued to frown.  
"Yes, it is, now get out!

Shadow turned back to look her in the eye, and the retort 'Make me' almost broke out.  
"And what if I don't want to?" he smirked arrogantly at her earning a deeper look.  
His own sour mood was beginning to latch on to him, and Amy Rose was only starting to provoke him.  
Slowly he was stepping towards her; subtly so she wouldn't get her guard up.  
"Too bad! I want you out!"

Amy's eyes widened as she realized he was only a foot away from her, and that he was so much taller than her. She'd been too busy being angry to notice, and now she was thoroughly annoyed that she was trapped between him and the wall behind her in her own room.  
Silently and victoriously Shadow put his arm up to lean against the wall behind her as he saw the alarm in her eyes.  
"Oh do you?"

His voice sent shivers down her spine as she looked up into those red eyes and Amy could feel her pulse quicken.

Then Shadow's sneer deepened as she didn't answer and he turned on his heel to plop back on her bed, his arms behind his head.

"Yes; your room is quite nice. I might just stay here."  
Amy's eyes narrowed dangerously.

First he and his family came around,here forcing her into a marriage she didn't want, and now her 'fiancé' was just roaming into her room!  
"Get off my bed!"  
Shadow's sneer still on his face he gave a long stretch, sprawling over it, infuriating Amy.  
"I said get off you jerk!"  
"Hmmm, nice and comfy~"

Amy was getting riled up; she was unhappy and irritated, and her future husband was only making things worse.  
Shadow almost laughed; Amy's red face contorted in rage was so passionate that it was cute.

"I SAID GET UP RIGHT NOW!"  
Amy was beginning to lose it; she stretched out her claws threateningly to prepare to attack.

Shadow saw the movement, and with a dangerous mischievousness his eyes narrowed and he grinned evilly.   
Just LET her hit him.

"Nope~"  
"I SAID GET OFF!!"  
Amy lunged at the black hedgehog angrily, unknowingly mimicking her actions form years ago, but this time Shadow was prepared.

His eyes narrowed and in a spilt second he'd sat up, and Amy was moving forward with her arms outstretched, and her eyes widened as he grabbed her wrists and she fell over him, but not in the same movement she had wanted.

Shadow's heart shuddered as he felt her against him; her hips and bosom pressing against him softly.  
If he'd had time he might have groaned as this small simple contact caused something within himself to break down, sending a tremor to a certain area that is not normally mentioned in present company.  
He looked up at her eyes and her shocked face and after a long moment his brain began moving.

His eyes narrowed evilly and he turned, flipping her over and off of him onto her bed, and she landed on her back, her arms pinned on each side of her head as Shadow kneeled over her to smirk.

 

He lowered his head down to her face, scaring Amy with the innuendo of affection, however, in triumph he whispered to her softly.  
"Make me."  
He sneered and released his hold on her wrists as he pushed himself up.

He had half a mind to take her right her right now, as he looked down at her figure sprawled over her bed, her hair surrounding her face and her chest moving rapidly with her breathing.

But he restrained himself.  
If there was one thing he prided himself over; it was self control after all.  
He gave a small chuckle and walked towards the door, smirking evilly back at her as he paused at her doorframe and walked away.  
Amy sat up blankly, leaning back on the palms of her hands and her face flushed violently as what just happened replayed in her mind.  
….. Shadow was going to pay for that…..

~~~~~~ 

Shadow wore a bored expression as he stared out over the pond in the Rose's backyard garden, sitting on the grass in the shade, enjoying the smell of the flowers that grew on it's banks and moved elegantly in the wind.  
He heaved a deep breath and somehow thought he might miss this garden;  
It had already been a week since He'd arrived and during that week he'd found himself mesmerized by the garden; he blamed his instinctive attraction to nature.

There were flowers of every type;  
Lilies, Orchids, Tulips, Cosmos, Columbine, petunias, Daffodils, Lavatera, and Roses of course. Not to mention to Water lilies that floated lazily on the water's surface around the Cattails.  
There was something magical about the Rose's garden that made the flowers there rich with color; even the green was more beautiful that anywhere else.  
It was beautiful, elegant,…. Enchanting.  
Just like it's owner.

Shadow glanced out the corner of his eye where Amy was quietly crouching at the water's edge admiring the multi-colored Cosmos that bloomed there, and because she was facing away from him, he took this opportunity to stare at her unobserved.

Since the day he'd arrived Amy had calmed down considerably;  
But not after a bit of revenge of course.

She still obviously felt something hostile towards him, but she was polite enough to try and hide it.  
Sort of.

Feeling eyes on her back Amy glanced over to her fiancé and shot him a glare before turning back to her flowers, her face still stuck into a frown as Shadow smirked at her reaction.

It was amusing to watch her hate him so much.

Sure she had a certain innocent purity side of her that appealed to her; but she also had another side of her; She had a sparky fiery side to her as well.  
She was always fighting against him, and somehow he found it entertaining; trying to beat her; trying to get the upper hand.  
In her childishness, she was also rebellious; challenging.  
And oh how he loved a good challenge.

Shadow smirked over at her and his eyelids lowered as he stood up and decided to bother her for a while.  
He walked over and as he towered over the girl his smirked widened as he saw her back stiffen as she felt his shadow over her.  
Amy looked up at him and glared and he sat down beside her in her full view.  
"Hello, Buddy" He said mischievously and Amy's eyes narrowed.  
"I'm not your buddy. Now go away"  
"Aww, I'm not your buddy anymore?"  
"Nope"

Shadow leaned forward on his hands and knees as if interested in what she was holding in her hands, making a point to invade her personal space.  
"What you doing?"  
Amy glared at him and hugged her flowers closer to her.  
"Nothing."  
"Yes you are; what is it"  
"I'm not doing anything. And why are you bothering me? Shouldn't you be getting ready to leave?"

Tomorrow, to Amy's relief, Shadow and his family would be leaving for home; the wedding would be taking place in a couple of months giving their parents enough time to make the necessary arrangements.

If there was anything good coming out of this engagement that the couple could both agree on; it was that their mothers were definitely pleased and excited.  
It must be thrilling being able to plan your child's wedding with your best friend.  
"Nope; I'm already packed."  
"Hmph!"

Shadow's eyelids lowered fractionally as the wind changed direction and a whiff of Amy's scent touched his nose, and he froze momentarily as he breathed it in;  
It was unbearably, and unquestionably intoxicating…

Amy's eyes widened as she saw the expression on Shadow's face change, and again, as it had so many times with Shadow, time began to slow down.  
It was nerve wreaking how with Shadow, everything could change suddenly in a split second.

And just as nerve wreaking were those stupid fluttery feelings too.

Their eyes met and it looked like Shadow was on the verge of speech when a voice behind them interrupted.  
"Hi Amy!"  
Shadow felt a wave of hatred and anger at the voice; it was that stupid friggin gardener.

In a flash Amy was by the green hedgehog's side and slowly and fuming shadow uncurled himself to lay on his stomach on the grass, leaning his head on his palm, tapping his finger on the ground and glaring off ahead.

"Hi Max, how are you?"  
Shadow gritted his teeth seething as he heard the cheerfulness in her voice at seeing her stupid gardener friend.  
As unfair as it was; seeing as all he did was annoy her, he hated seeing her so close to other guys….  
Especially when his own relationship with the girl was so insecure…

Slowly he stood up, keeping his face a neutral as possible despite the growing volcanoes of anger and hatred towards the green hedgehog who was talking so friendly to his fiancé.

He took a deep breath and ignored the two hedgehogs as he attempted to calm down.  
He was being irrational.

He was trying to convince himself to be nice; he was just the gardener correct?  
In his head he laughed nervously, and just as he began to calm down his eyes widened and something very bad clicked dangerously in his head.

He was touching her….  
His hand was laying on her forearm nonchalantly 

That green bastard actually had the audacity to touch his future wife in front of him….

One of his eyelids began to twitch hazardously, and he could feel raw, intense hatred coursing through his body, heating him from the inside.

'Self control Shadow' a tiny voice in his head told him, and he barely restrained from attacking his new enemy.  
If looks could kill then max would be a sizzling heap of bloody flesh splattered on the ground in Shadow's opinion.

Amy and Max were completely oblivious to the fuming hedgehog next to them; a position that was very dangerous for Max.

Shadow's eye narrowed into slits as he saw the way the green hedgehog was looking at her. And his hand had not moved one inch!  
He had to get her away from him, and quickly.  
And as he glanced around the scene he was hit by a stroke of genius.

"Oh Amy, is that your parents I hear calling? Oh yes it is; lets go"  
Max and Amy only had time to glance at Shadow before he'd grabbed her arm rather forcefully and sped off with Amy trying to keep pace.

Shadow's anger was driving him on to a greater speed than he would usually settle for in such an environment; there were many twists and turns and obstacles as he ran, but he kept going, rage driving him to recklessness.

Everything around them was a blur of color to Amy as them sped deep into her garden, and Amy couldn't tell exactly where they were; she rarely had time to delve so far into the maze of hedges and trees and bushes. Her eyes had to stay close or else they would begin to water, and Amy was momentarily afraid of crashing into something. 

"Shadow! Slow down!" she shouted over the roar of wind.   
Shadow's ears picked up her voice muffled by the wind. He'd almost forgotten he'd had a passenger as his thoughts had gone on a rampage.   
He pointed his eyes forward and focused on what was in front of him as he dug his skates into the ground and skidded to a halt; careful not to crash into anything and endanger either him of the girl behind him; not that that meant his anger had subsided in the least; it was almost the opposite.

For a moment they stood there; Amy panting to regain her breath and slow her heart speed down, and Shadow staring pointedly ahead glaring in the distance, unaware that he still was gripping her wrist; bad thoughts were running through his mind at speeds comparable to how fast he'd been running just now.

"Man! What the heck is wrong with you Shadow!" Amy exclaimed as he breathing became normal despite her trembling as she got over the fear she'd felt when they were running, but her eyes widened and her expression flashed into one concern as the black hedgehog in front of her looked over his shoulder back at her, his eyes narrowed as he glared at her.  
It wasn't the fact he was glaring; he did that all the time.  
It was more of the way he did it.

Even when Shadow was pissed at her for what ever prank or trick she played on him, his face never looked like this…  
He looked almost dangerous.  
But not in a way that scared her;  
It more or less made her very uncomfortable and worried.

"Um.. Shadow? Are you okay?"  
Shadow's eyelids receded in surprise and he forced his face to look neutral as he turned to look away from her and let go of the arm he was holding.  
"It's nothing"  
Slowly he crossed his arms over his chest and he stared straight ahead as he walked forward along the pathway.  
Amy shuffled her feet nervously before she followed him; her previous feelings evaporated.  
As she caught up a little she played with her fingers nervously and snuck small glances at her fiancé…

His face was neutral, but she could feel the dark waves swirling around in the air around him, and his eyes still had that angry glow causing her to almost wince.

"Umm… are you sure?"  
Shadow gave a curt nod and they stopped for a moment as they came to a fork in the road and Shadow contemplated which way they should go.

Amy continued to look up at him feeling awkward; she wanted him to talk to her, but she wasn't sure if his patients would withstand if she continued to bother him about it.

"Well.. Umm… if you want to tell me… I'm always here you know…"  
Shadow looked up to her anxious face feeling a bit shocked, and Amy couldn't look him in the eye.  
"Umm… cuz you know… we ARE going to get married after all;… I guess you should be able to tell me stuff like that… um.. If you wanted I mean…"

Amy shifted uncomfortably, and her fingers bumped together as she stole a nervous glance up at Shadow; her face flushed red with embarrassment and anxiety as she waited for his reaction.

After the moment it took for him to register what Amy said and her meaning, Shadow's face broke out into a deep smirk and his rage instantly disappeared.  
That was one of the most magical things about this endearing child standing in front of him; even some of the most simplest things she could say could completely destroy his train of thought and all the emotions that went with it.

His eyelids lowered and he chuckled lightly as he shook his head.  
"Hmm~; So you acknowledge everything that is happening? Who would have thought"  
Shadow folded his arms again and leaned forward slightly to look at Amy's blushing face smugly.  
Amy refused to meet his eyes as her face turned red and as her eyes moved down she caught the movement as Shadow winced as he touched a part of his arm and removed his hand from it.  
Amy frowned at his arm and Shadow's eyes widened as she suddenly came very close, and practically ripped his sleeve off his arm as she lifted it up his arm firmly holding it in place in as he tried to pull away.  
"hold still already!" She chided him and as he reluctantly complied her own eyes widened as she felt something wet and winced as she found the wound that had reopened.  
It was a deep gash right at his arm muscle, and she bit her lip as she realized just how painful it must be.  
"That looks bad!"  
Shadow could only stare wide eyed as she pulled the yellow ribbon from her hair, her long softly curled hair cascading down her back, and he felt his mouth go dry;  
She really was beautiful…

Mesmerized he didn't even resist as she forced him to sit down, and he forced himself to look away as his muzzle reddened from the contact, as her fingers brushed gently against his skin. Instead he started at her handiwork , noting how neatly she was tying the makeshift bandage around it.  
Simply for this moment he slightly forgave the idiot who'd done the damage.  
As he looked around he finally remembered why they were here in the first place;   
That stupid green hedgehog.  
His eyelids narrowed and staring pointedly of to the distance behind her he hesitated as he brought it up.  
"So, your gardener friend… what do YOU make of him?"  
Amy's ears twitched up as she picked up his voice and kept her gaze to her work; she was almost finished.  
"Ummm… ehhheh~ I actually forgot him; Oops. And there we go; all done!"  
Amy looked up at him, feeling quite pleased with herself.   
But Shadow kept his expression blank as they stood up.  
"Thanks"  
Amy nodded and they headed off again;  
But Shadow was still distracted.  
"You never answered my question."   
He stared and Amy looked up at him, confused and districted momentarily.  
"Umm; What?"  
"My question, Rose."  
His ears twitched in annoyance and he wondered if she was merely pulling his leg.  
But Amy put her thumb to her mouth as she thought about it; but she didn't have very long to think.  
Max, to her, was simply a nice guy and a friend; and although she had been interested at first, in her present situation all of those thoughts dried up. As unwillingly as she was to get married; she would never be the type to cheat on her husband, no matter how horrible they would be.  
But to say all of this would be embarrassing, and too long, so simply she shrugged.  
"Max is pretty cool. Nice guy, and friendly."  
Shadow gave a grunt.  
He wasn't very easily convinced, but he would let the matter go for now… or at least leave it for further notice, because he was very suddenly distracted as Amy excitedly ran off to the right having noticed a rather large pond that she said she'd never seen before.  
Already it was dark outside and as much as Shadow wanted to get inside, there was something enchanting in the scene as Amy proceeded to jump across the rocks in the center of the water.  
"Come on Shadow! This is fun!"

He sighed and shook his head, taking a glance towards the castle in the distance. Before he relented and moved towards the pond content to watch over her as she had fun jumping from rock to rock.  
He adored that sparkle in her eye as she came over grabbing his hands and pulling him along with her.  
"We're going to fall!"  
"Nuh uh!"  
"Yes we will"  
"Not if you're not too clumsy~"  
She giggled happily as she hopped along and feeling rather foolish Shadow followed her; but with a lot less enthusiasm as she showed.  
He had perfect balance, and he didn't need all the extra movement and effort to stay on a measly rock, but Amy wasn't focusing on balancing; she was too focused on having fun with her little game.  
So Shadow shouldn't have been very surprised when she finally did lose her balance, but he was.  
She'd stepped on one of the smooth rocks the wrong way, and her unsteady foot slipped from under her as she'd completed her jump.  
Shadow's eyes widened as in slow motion, he watched her begin to fall back, her arms flailing as she tried to re-catch her balance.  
He leaned forward, grabbing her wrist as he attempted to stop her from falling, just as she'd brought her arm back; pulling him forward accidentally.  
With a loud splash they fell to the water below, Shadow's arms rapping protectively around Amy's waist.

For a moment they were sitting surrounded by shallow water staring at each other in surprise as they took in each other's soaking wet faces;  
Their water logged quills;  
The seaweed on his nose;  
The water lily in her hair;

And after that moment they broke out into amazing laughter unlike any they'd felt in a while.  
It rang on and on until their sides began to hurt, slowly fading off into small chuckles until they finally regained their senses.  
"Well that was fun."   
Amy grinned cheerfully up at her fiancé leaning over her on his palms and he smirked back at her.  
"Agreed"  
Amy giggled and held his cheek up, Shadow's eyes widening, and softly pulled the bit of seaweed hanging from his needle-nose.  
"I'm sorry Shadow; but I really can't take you seriously with that on your face"  
Shadow couldn't fight the blush that took over his muzzle and Amy tilted her head curiously as she peered up at him.  
"Hey, are you okay? Your face is red; do you have a fever"  
Another moment slowed down.  
Shadow looked on, mesmerized as his vision was filled by her happily smiling face;  
The way her eyes danced and sparkled in the sunlight;  
With her hair streaming down her back beautifully.  
And that was the only way to describe her.  
She was beautiful.

And so preoccupied with the sight, he was left completely unable to control himself.

His heart pounded painfully loud as his palms brushed up her arms, moved to her shoulders, and his thumbs landed gently on her cheeks as he held her face in his hands.  
He took in the way her eyes widened and how her muzzle was getting darker to match his own, and he smirked as his lips stopped mere inches from her own, and their foreheads touching, his needle-nose connecting to her flat button nose.

His content grin turned guilty as Amy momentarily made a face that he saw as disappointed.  
He stood up; helping her to her feet.  
"Lets get doing"

Amy did her best to hide her disappointment and rekindled feelings of rejection as the couple walked to the Castle that grew ever closer  
What did it take to make a guy like her already!?

They walked in silence as was usual, but Amy seemed just as distracted as she'd been before the two had even began their walk.  
She continued to walk with her gave to the right looking towards something in the distance, even thought the only thing around them were the green hedges that grew around the garden high above their heads.

As they walked onto the pathway immediately surrounding the castle, right before the corner that would lead them to the front porch Shadow ran his fingers through his quills thoughtfully; Distinctly impressed at how fast they were drying, and he took this moment to look to his companion walking next to him.

He couldn't see the emotions chasing each other around her heart, but he could see that her mind was not with them right now.

He sighed and stopped walking, letting Amy past,  
But as she walked in front of him she gasped in surprise as her wrist was grabbed, and she was pulled around;  
Her back pressed against the outer wall of her castle;  
Her mind went blank;  
Shadow's eyes softened;  
He entwined their fingers;  
Her arms were raised to the sides of her head; pressing against the cold stone behind her;  
Her eyes went wide.  
"S…Shadow?"   
Her voice was barely a whisper.  
"Shhh"  
His voice floated over the air;  
Their breaths clashed together;  
Their noses touched,

And then….

Their lips…. Connected.  
Softly.  
Sweetly.  
Gently.  
Warmly.

They stayed like this for what felt like years;  
Their eyes closed;  
Their faces red;  
Their hearts fluttering;  
Their senses confused;  
Their minds on another level.

And even days later, Amy could still feel the sensation of his lip on her's.

xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx


	9. Chapter 9

Thorns and Roses 

Lady Alicia sat patiently on the window seat of her daughter's room, glancing ever so often towards the dressing room door.   
"Are you sure you don't need some help sweetie?"  
Amy's muffled voice burst from the dressing room, "I got it!" and a sigh escaped from her mother's lips..  
"Let's just hope you don't tear it or something."  
"I'm not mom!"  
"Are you sure you can handle tying it up?"  
"Mom, please, stop being so fussy!"  
Amy flipped her hair over her shoulder and turned her back to the mirror as she attempted to tie up the back of her wedding dress. She frowned with concentration and gave the ribbons a few tugs. This was harder than she thought.   
She stuck her tongue out in concentration, twisting her arms backwards and sideways to reach them. She was just about to call for her mother but instead the door to her dressing room opened and she smiled at the newcomer.  
"Hey Cream! A little help here please?"  
"Sure, Amy!"  
The younger girl pulled lightly at the ribbons as the older girl held her hair up.  
"Your mom sure looks stressed."  
Looking over her shoulder to the closed door, Cream giggled.  
"You're telling ME!" Amy replied with a sniff. "But I wouldn't worry too much. She always gets like this before a big event, then she finally figures out nothing is wrong once it's started."  
"Hmm. There you go!"  
"Ah~, Thank you Cream!"  
Amy swirled around in front of the mirror, admiring the dress.  
"You know, I really do like this one." Amy turned to her younger friend who'd sat herself down on the small bench adjacent to the mirror, kicking her legs gently as they dangled off the edge.  
Cream beamed up at Amy.  
"I like it too! That other one looked rather awkward…"  
"Yea, and it was itchy too. All that lace."   
Amy giggled to her self and swished the hem of her skirts happily.  
"Hmph! Wearing a dress this gorgeous might actually be worth all the trouble this whole thing has caused." She looked back at her friend mischievously. "Don't you think?"  
Cream took on a depressed look.  
"Umm. If you say so."  
Amy spat her tongue out at the rabbit's reflection in the mirror just as the dressing room door opened again."  
Alicia sighed at her daughter.  
"Amy, please behave yourself. The last thing we need right now is the bride acting like a child."  
"Yeah, yeah, mom. What do you think of the dress though, isn't it fabulous?"  
Amy twirled around, showing off the poofy skirts.  
"You look lovely dear." She smiled and walked up to stand beside her daughter. "Now we just have to decide on the jewelry. And you ARE wearing your hair out, right?"  
Amy looked at her mother quizzically.  
"Hmm, I don't know how I want my hair. Sheryl and I were going to experiment later"   
"Fine, just don't do anything too outlandish okay? It's a wedding, not a circus act."  
"Yes mom,"  
Amy winked over to Cream behind her mother's back, and Alicia smiled at their reflections before turning on her heel and waling off, pausing only to speak to the girls.  
"Be careful while you take that off Amy. Cream, can you make sure she doesn't damage the dress she seems to love so much?"  
"Yes Ma'am!"  
Cream jumped off the bench and began untying the neat little bows of ribbon on the back of her friend's dress.  
"So, are you feeling better about the wedding? You had me worried for a few days."  
Amy grinned sheepishly. Cream and her family had arrived three days ago, on the eve of her birthday to help prepare for the wedding. As the flower girl, Cream spent a lot of her time with Amy while the adults focused on the logistics of planning a wedding.   
For the first few days Amy was miffed not only about the event itself, but also for being excluded from the planning of such an important event in her life. She got over it eventually, however.   
Especially when she noticed how aggravating it was for her parents...  
"Nah, don't worry about it." She waved it off and relaxed as the ribbons down her back were loosened.  
"Are you sure Amy?"  
Cream walked back over to the bench and turned around to give Amy some privacy.  
"Yup! I'm sure! I'm not the type to mope about something for so long"  
Amy grinned, and finished changing so the two could go and get some lunch.  
As they walked down the halls Amy looked around her home, feeling nostalgic as her eyes swept the ornaments and items on the walls. Although she was feeling better about it all, her heart retched at the though of having to say goodbye.

Amy glanced out the window into the side courtyard that blended into her family's garden. She could see the heads of her many servants setting up for the big day below. At first she'd thought an apology was in order for all the work they had to do, but it seemed that the workers were actually excited about her wedding.   
While they prepared for the arrival of over a hundred guests, they gossiped and talked happily about how "the young lady had finally grown up!", and just how happy they were for her. Just the other day Amy had happened to hear a couple of her maids whispering about how handsome her soon to be was. Amy had to turn her face away from her younger friend to hide the blushing that went to her cheeks.

~~~~~~~~~

Clang… Clang … Clang … Clang … Clang … Clang…  
If Black Doom had a mouth, he would more than likely be smirking at that moment.  
He floated above the high pathways of his once Mobian fortress, looking out for miles around. The noise of metal hammers banging against the steel swords of his men was music to his ears.  
"Ah, what a wonderful day for doom and destruction." He mumbled darkly. He turned away from his view of the setting sun that cast the earth in a blood red light, and instead looked down into his courtyard. Below his Black Army was preparing armor and weapons for battle. Black Doom liked to be roughly prepared before beginning a conquest, and had instructed his army to begin preparing months before he had any intention of making a move.   
On one side of the court his men were hammering away, turning red hot steel into useful instruments of war: chains, swords, spearheads, kludges, and shields. In the center other workers were bringing about large metallic carts, perfectly organized, to away the newly formed pieces before disappearing behind the wooden doors inside the castle. On the inside of his castle the Black Arms soldiers were busy putting finishing touches on the weapons, also testing them out and deeming them worthy of a fight. If they were found to be unsatisfactory, they would be thrown right into a large cauldron of melted metal that took up most of the room from the center, and the metal would leak into smaller channels that went outside to the first group of Black Arms workers. If the weapon was found to be useful, another set of cart wielders rolled them further into the castle to the storage rooms, where another group of workers set to sorting out the instruments in organized sections.

Everything was organized, and smooth running. Just the way Black Doom liked it.  
The alien leader not turned to the other side of his courtyard where a platoon of soldier were training. Every hour of so the groups would rotate so a new batch of his workers would concentrate on their strength and skill while the old soldiers would focus on preparing the stock of armaments. His eyes narrowed in on the group checking his fighters for any blemishes in their forms or exercises. At the moment they were practicing with their long swords, striking as one uniform group at wooden beams that jutted from the ground.   
His eyes focused in momentarily on every move of each black arms alien, waiting, almost daring one of them to make a false move. And almost as if his thoughts had turned into reality, one of the soldiers almost dropped their sword! In a swift momentary pause the swords had fumbled out of their hand and dropped no more than inch before it was picked up out of midair, but Black Doom had seen it.  
In a flash he brought back his hand and the next moment his hand was aimed forward, frozen right from where he'd shot his sharp blast of chaos energy. His took on a pleased look at the now dead soldier and turned his back to let the platoon pause in the training to make room for a couple of other workers to retrieve the body.  
The other soldiers had known better than react to the death of their comrade, lest Black Doom turned his wrath on them. Instead they watched silently as the body was taken away before being ordered to continue again.

Looking quite satisfied Black Doom faced the direction of the sun and closed his eyes. His ever present frown deepened in concentration until he finally established a link to his spy behind enemy lines.  
The Black Eye blinked open, and swiveled around as it found its surroundings. The squid was now latched onto the ceiling of King Maximillian's study, which form the outside was the highest of the castle towers. It was night time over the Kingdom of Acorn, so the study was empty of other people. Moonlight shone though the circular room, making a brilliant white beam right down the middle of the carpet. The Black Arms squid let go of the wall it was stuck to, and swam through the air the door. However, just as Black Doom's eye was about to squeeze under the doorway, it was alerted to the sound of footsteps.  
The echidna maid swung open the massive wooden door and looked around as the feeling of being watched crept over her. After a moment though she shrugged and moved into the room with her duster at hand.  
The Black Eye blinked open from over the doorway, and in a swift movement swung around the door post and swam hurriedly down the hall. Aside from the flickering of the torches along the walls, the Castle was deathly quiet.   
'How fitting.' Black Doom thought evilly. Although the situation was not quite ready for a homicide yet, he felt it almost amusing how the soon to be assassin had crept so stealthily in the Mobian King's home that even months later he had still not been found! He could have gotten away with the kings murder literally months ago! But now was not the time. He still need to get information, information that could be dire for his plans of conquest to work. 

Mentally he guided his spy through the castle hallways relatively easily the only moments of risk had come from unobservant wanderers who were dodged without overlong problems. Finally Doom's eyes found the destination he'd been searching for. His eye was floating in front of a great ornamented door that he knew led to the King and his advisor's stock room. Only, this room didn't hold just anything objects of sentiment. This room just happened to hold the largest amount of information in another other Mobian domain. The Black arms squid slid easily under the doorway and swam through the air towards some of the most recently updated records of Mobian activity. The room was much longer than one would think standing form outside, filed with shelves placed back to back and running parallel to the doorway. After passing most of the shelves the squid turned a corner and moved to a set of shelves that were decked with red emblems. This was the area where the recordings of each fief and county's populations. The particular shelf it was now browsing help information from over the last few decades including this year's record. With this information Black Doom could find out and prepare for the number of Mobian soldiers his army would be facing. One Mobian soldier would be able to take out at least five of his own, and at the moment Black Doom's army was already outnumbered. Now he needed to find out exactly how much, or else he would not be able to determine how long of a spawning period he would need before this war was started.   
The squid's eyes picked up another document, and the eyeball shuddered nearly out its socket as it quickly skimmed the writing on it.   
"Finally" Black Doom mumbled before focusing again on his pet.   
'Go back to the King's study and await further instruction'  
The Black eye flickered it's tentacles in a formal salute before gliding stealth fully under the door and down the hallway to its previous resting place.  
Black Doom took a long deep breath and retracted him concentration back to his own body. He opened his eyes, and frowned towards the moonlit sky. Angrily he scolded himself for not having put this into thought before. The Mobian population now outnumbered his own by 5. It would take months of constant spawning in order to break even, and that was if the enemy population stayed constant.  
"Damn it!" He muttered.   
Suddenly he began to regret his killing from earlier. Right now he needed all the manpower he could get…  
Maybe it was time that he called for some reinforcements…  
Black Doom's eyes flickered gleefully now at the thought of who he would be contacting.  
Silently he sent a mental message to one of the nearby guards on duty at the other end of the pathway.  
'Sent out a message at once to that bumbling buffoon of a doctor. Tell him that Black Doom has a proposition for him.'  
The Guard made a salute and ran off to fulfill his master's commands, and Black Doom looked back out on the land.  
Yes, the Mobians had gotten lucky this time, something as tediously petty as population was stopping his plans for the moment. However, soon the alien leader would be clear to begin in his greatest ambition: conquering the world. 

 

~~~~~~~~

"Hey Sonic! Look at that!"  
Tails pointed excitedly out the window of the carriage, turning back to look at his older "brother".  
Sonic, lying with his leg propped on opposite bench with his arms behind his head, opened an eye to look the kitzune.  
"What is it Tails?"  
"Look at it Sonic! It's a black tailed Trogo!"  
"It's a what?!"  
Sonic hopped up and looked over Tail's shoulder, a look of excitement on his face. That is until he realized just what a black tailed Trogo is.  
"Seriously Tails? You got me excited … over a bird?"  
"But Sonic! It's not just ANY bird! This bird is very rare and endangered!"  
"Sigh." Sonic stopped himself from commenting on what else would be endangered if his nap was interrupted again before poking his head out the front window to talk to the driver, his uncle, Sir Charles.  
"Hey, Uncle Chuck, when are we gonna get there?"  
"Sorry Sony-boy! We wont get there for another 6 hours or so."  
"Ugh! Can't I just run there? Please?"  
"Sorry Sony, You heard your parents."  
Uncle Chuck continued to give Sonic the same speech his parents had given him earlier, and Sonic decided now was a good time to finish his nap.   
The only thing keeping him from jumping outside the window right now was one, how Amy would feel if he didn't show up, and two, as the best man this was the perfect opportunity to bug Shadow. A grin crept on his face at the thought.   
It wasn't a malicious type of pleasure or anything; Sonic would do the same thing to ANY of his friends. Especially Knuckles.   
Sonic leaned back in his seat, ignoring another shout of surprise from Tails, as nostalgic thoughts of his old friends filled his mind. 

~~~~~~~~~

"Hey, Amy, I see them!"  
"Eh?" Amy walked over to the window and looked down to the road where a familiar cart was coming into view.  
"You're right. It's them." Amy sighed and looked to the younger girl. "How do I look?"  
Amy fiddled with her partly braided hair and then played with the bow on the front of her dress. The braids were set into one large coil over her shoulder while her bangs stuck out of her forehead.  
"You look fine Amy! Lets go!"  
Cream grabbed Amy's hand and guided her towards the door, Amy giving her room a backwards glance.  
As the two walked down the hallway they spotted their parents in the grand hall. Lady Vanilla was talking cheerfully with Lady Alicia while Sir Rodney was attempting to fix his tie in one of the mirrors.  
"Ah, there you two are" He announced as they got down the stairs. "Are you ready?"  
"Ready as I'll ever be"  
Amy played lightly with the rim of her glove, unsure exactly how she was feeling about meeting her future husband again. It annoyed her how something that was obviously so meaningless to HIM, had effected her. His random acts of affection only jolted what she had decided was the truth in their relationship; it was built on nothing more than physical attraction. They had no reason to feel anything more, nor did they… or, at least, he didn't.  
She thought.

Her family filed out into the court yard when the carriage finally stopped, and as the door swung open, Amy felt an annoyingly strange flutter in her chest as her fiancé slowly moved out of the dark interior and into the sunlight followed by his mother. After nodding a thanks to their driver the two black hedgehogs approached, Lady Jasmine with a less than happy look on her face, and Shadow glancing over his shoulder as though expecting something. Anyone could tell that there was something wrong.  
"Hello you guys!" Jasmine called politely as she and Alicia shared a hug.  
"What's wrong with you?" Alicia studied her friend's face worriedly.  
Lady Jasmine sighed and messaged her forehead.  
"I owe you an apology in advanced for this, but you remember Malcolm's mother correct?"  
"Uh oh." Alicia and her husband gave each other a look.

But it was as if on cue that a second carriage appeared down the road with a large boom, and it shot down the road with a cloud of dusk billowing behind it. Fearfully Cream grabbed onto Amy's skirts as they all stared at the vehicle that skied to a halt in form of the Rose's manor.  
"What the heck…" Amy mumbled.  
SLAM!  
The onlookers jumped in surprise as the door swung open and slowly a black knee-high boot arose from the darkness and lowered to the pavement, followed by the face and the rest of the body of a lady hedgehog. Silently the hedgehog scanned the group in front of her, and she strutted towards them silently.  
Her black fur left Amy with no mistake of who she was related to, and her suspicions were confirmed as Sir Malcolm jumped down from he carriage and sent the driver away with a thank you.  
Now Amy knew why the elders looked so scared; even Shadow was acting stiffer than usual. This lady, whatever her name was, was very intimidating. She walked with the air of a woman who meant business, and her demeanor was of someone who could cut you down and make you inferior with just a look. 

As Rebecca walked towards the family, she smirked inwardly at the effect she was having. Her daughter in law was giving her a look of intense dislike, while the Roses had the air of one bracing themselves for an attack. There were two female rabbits were she did not know, but the older one who was obviously the mother was biting her finger uncertainly. Her grandson even was more on edge.  
For a quick moment she was beginning to feel a strong sort of satisfaction, but it quickly died away as she looked over to the pink hedgehog. Amy smiled up at the older hedgehog innocently, but even behind her smile she was rebelliously amused. Rebecca probably wasn't quite as bad as she looked. Right?

"Well, well, well, hello Rose family." Rebecca stopped and sneered at them all, earning a, angry scowl from Jasmine. "And hello to you too Jasmine; you're looking sour as usual"  
She giggled evilly as Jasmine glared even harder and imaginary fire enveloped her person.  
"And you're just as ill-tempered as always. Anyway, I'm so sorry for dropping in unannounced; but you know I couldn't miss my darling Grandson's wedding!"  
"Oh no! It's perfectly alright! Isn't it honey?" Alicia elbowed her husband in the arm to make him agree.  
"Hmm. You're too kind." A smirk appeared on her face.  
"Anyway, where IS this bride-to-be that I've been hearing so much about?" She looked around indifferently although she already had an idea who it was. "You haven't locked her away have you?"  
"A-actually, she's right here." Sir Albert grinned nervously and pulled her forward by the arm.  
"So this is her, eh?"  
Rebecca set the younger hedgehog with a full-fledged stare that left Amy feeling uncomfortable. Uncertainly Amy wondered if there was something wrong with her appearance from the look that was increasing in disapproval, and she felt her face redden slightly. Maybe she should have spent more time in he mirror?  
She felt her quills starting to tense up, as they often did when Amy was exposed to an uncomfortable situation. It didn't matter whether she was angry, sad, or simply excited; her fur ALWAYS did that, and unconsciously her eyes flickered up to her bangs giving her examiner a reason to smirk.  
"Hmph. I knew I shouldn't have trusted you with such an important discussion Jasmine." Rebecca straightened her back and looked back to her daughter in law evilly. The air was filled with a sudden tension, and Amy paused in the process of fixing her bangs. All eyes were not on the black female hedgehog.  
"I see you don't know what I'm talking about. I'll break it down for you"  
Rebecca turned to her newest victim maliciously, and cold eyes met with green confused ones.  
"Her ears are too big, her shoulders are too brood, and she's much too skinny." She shrugged and turned to walk a bit away from the pink hedgehog. "I don't know HOW you could have thought this little girl was anywhere NEAR expectable." she sighed "Ah well. Better luck next time."  
She had walked away from the silent group only two feet when someone called her back.  
"…Is that what you REALLY think about me?"  
The pink hedgehog's voice didn't surprise Rebecca, but the tone sure did.  
"Why yes. I think you are unfit to be accepted into such a distinguished family. Good day."  
"…Well, you know what…"  
Rebecca halted as the voice suddenly boomed from behind her  
"YOU'RE NOTHING BUT AN UGLY OLD HAG ANYWAY!"  
Rebecca spun around on her heel and stalked up to the younger one while looks of surprise surrounded the two females.  
"What did you just say?!"  
"I said that you are an UGLY. OLD. HAG!!"  
Amy's smug face drew closure to the contender's as the older woman lividly glared down at her. Nobody had ever stood up to her like this before…  
"KNOBBY ANKLES!" She yelled harshly.  
"YELLOW TEETH!" Amy screamed.  
"FLAT-CHESTED!!"  
"WRINKLE FACE!!"  
"TOMATO CHEEKS!!"  
"DOG BREATHED PANCAKE FLIPPER!!"  
"…..What?"  
"LAME INSULT BUT NONETHELESS YOU'RE CRAZY AND YOUR BRETAH STINKS!"  
Fuming with both embarrassment and spite Amy turned away from the rest of the group and stomped away with as much grace as one can get from clomping around angrily.   
"If anyone IMPORTANT needs me, I'll be in my garden, AWAY from that crazy old witch! I don't have to take this!" Her sentence dropped off into a grumble as she turned the corner and left the rest of her family staring after her in silence.  
The first person to recover was Sir Rodney, who noticed Rebecca's expression, and turned to his mother beside him.  
"Err. I take it you had fun then?"   
"Actually, Yes, I really did."  
"So you admit that you have fun making people feel miserable?"  
"Stop being so dramatic! I HARDLY made THAT girl's life miserable." She shrugged. "Actually, I think I had no effect on her what so ever, but that's what makes it fun"  
A grin stretched out on her face for perhaps the first time in years.  
"Hmph. You're only half correct actually" Shadow shook his head. "You made her angry enough."  
He looked over his shoulder in the direction she'd disappeared and sighed. "I'd better go check on her before she hurts somebody."  
He glided across the courtyard while Vanilla brought Cream inside, leaving the other's to themselves. Rebecca turned to the remaining group.  
"I do believe I stand corrected about your daughter, Alicia and Albert."  
"Really? What made you change your mind?" Albert scratched at his head completely bewildered.   
"That girl's got moxy. Not many people are willing to stand up to ME anymore. And, heh! 'Dog breathed pancake flipper?' that was funny."  
She turned towards the mansion and wrapped and arm in Alicia's.  
"Now, come and show me around, would you darling?"  
The two walked, and pulled, away, leaving Albert, Rodney, and Jasmine to follow after them.

~~~~

"Hmph!"   
Amy plopped down in the grass and stared up at the rays of light flitting through shaded barrier of the tree leaves. Her arms and legs stretched out on the cool greenery and her hands pulled at the clumps of grass at her finger tips. Her lower lip poked out as she frowned.  
"Stupid old hag" she muttered.  
She shut her eyes and blocked out the angry thoughts, the majority having to do with pounding the old woman into mush, and she listened to the waterfalls of the water fountain close by. She wondered how the fountain would look when it was lit up for her wedding.   
She felt safe enough from intrusion at that moment, her hiding place was a small dead end in the maze of hedges hidden by one of the fountains comparatively smaller than the main one that decorated her parent's garden, and shaded by a decently aged tree. She had stumbled upon the natural room only a few days ago after running away her mother and the new high heeled shoes she was suppose to be trying on. Fortunately those god-forsaken shoes had decided to snag on a rock close to the edge of the pavement, otherwise the results would have been much more painful.  
The pink hedgehog stretched, content with the amount of space offered, and wondered about what the rest of the day would be like. Shadow's grandmother had ruined the peaceful mood she had been forcing herself into, and thanks to that, she wasn't sure how she was going to show her face after embarrassing herself in front of everyone. She could just hear the maids talking now…  
She groaned inwardly as she thought over her foolish behavior, although she wasn't sure what was causing her to care. At the time she had felt satisfied at having insulted the malicious granny, but now looking over it, she had instead reacted …childishly.  
She sighed and rolled over, deciding to put whatever apology she'd had in mind way to the back of it.   
She'd jumped up to her feet and spun around to go inside, but as her face turned to the entrance of her secret 'room' she was so shocked that she fell back to the ground again.  
Somehow without her realizing it, Shadow had snuck up on her. He was now leaning quietly against one of the hedges looking off at the house with a distant look in his eyes.  
But even as Amy realized what it was that had spooked her, she still ended up gasping as her heart recovered from shock.   
"Wah? Shadow!?"  
Disturbed from his thoughts, the dark male looked over the female with a raised brow.  
"What the-, what are you-…"  
A smirk flashed across his face as Amy sat there clutching the skirts of her dress in a flustered manner while she tried to utter out the correct phrase she wanted, and as Amy saw the smirk playing on his face, her shock disappeared and was replaced by embarrassed agitation.  
"Where the HECK did YOU come from!"  
Shadow gave a sigh, and pushed off from the wall.  
"You're not very observant are you? I'm sure anyone from a few miles noticed me walking over here."  
Amy jumped to her feet and pouted.  
"Hmph! Nobody asked you if I were observant or not. Leave me alone why don't you!"  
"As you wish."  
Shadow shrugged and turned away, leaving Amy staring after him in surprise, her arms still crossed. She had half expected him to bother her even more. Rather, she had COMPLETELY expected her fiancé to continue bothering her. That was the usual thing that happened anyway.  
"Hmph. Fine."  
She turned her cheek at the black hedgehog's retreating back, unable to stop herself looking after him out the corner of her eye. She had half a mind to go and follow him: how dare he completely skip over their normal meeting ritual and actually listen to her orders to go away!  
Frowning she looked about her miniature paradise and found that she was suddenly bored of it. After all, just sitting around wasn't as much fun as moving around having an adventure.  
She looked back to the other hedgehog that was getting closer to the main path of the maze.  
'What's he doing anyway?'  
Curiously she watched as her fiancé moved past the dirt walkway she had expected him to take and stopped in front of one of the even larger trees to stare into it's shaded depths. He walked around the trunk of the monster plant once before stopping again at it's side and to Amy's surprise he crouched down suddenly and made a long, unnaturally high, jump and disappeared behind the leaves of the overgrown shrub.   
"What the?"  
She looked around as if expecting Shadow to appear somewhere else. Maybe it had been a trick of the eyes that made her think for a moment that the male hedgehog had just JUMPED up a tree. However, even as she looked she could tell that he wasn't around.  
Cautiously Amy approached the green and brown mass and as she walked under it she scanned the umbrella of leaves and branches, but even so she couldn't see the black and red hedgehog anywhere in the green. Now she began to feel embarrassed, and she looked back down to scan the rest of the backyard again.  
'Where the heck did he go?'  
Once more she looked up to the canopy and still saw nothing… that is until she took a step back, and suddenly he appeared in her vision as he 'moved' into a conveniently placed beam of light.  
"Oh…"  
Feeling foolish at how long it had taken her to notice him, Amy felt her sweat drop;  
Maybe he'd been right about how observant she was…

Shadow was leaning his back on the tree trunk, one leg dangling, the other resting on the branch supporting him as he stared up at the sky through the tree leaves uninhibitedly. He kept his gaze up until a slight rustling sound distracted him, making him turn his head. However he was completely unsurprised as the face of his future wife popped out from behind the moving tree branch.  
"Hi!"  
Amy smiled cheerfully as if expecting one in return, but Shadow only nodded.  
"Whatcha doin?"  
"Nothing" he answered solemnly.  
"What type of nothing?"  
"The type people do?"  
He raised a brow and shrugged noncommittally. Amy frowned, swaying as alight breeze hit the branch she was standing on and the other limbs she was holding herself up with.  
"How could people do it if they're doing nothing?"  
"The same way I'm doing now."  
He closed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest as if to close the conversation however if Amy wanted to talk, she was going to weather he liked it or not!  
"Nice weather today huh?"  
"Hmph."  
Although Shadow could agree with this, it was unsurprising as the weather where the Rose family lived was ALWAYS nice. There was also the fact that home was usually better. Not that she would know; they had never really discussed where Shadow lived in any of their previous conversations.  
"Is it like this where you live?"  
Shadow glanced at her face. Amy was now leaning her head and arms on another branch between them, looking off in the distance happily. She always became more relaxed when she was talking to somebody; a complete people person. He almost rolled his eyes, but consciously stopped himself. The two of them were almost exact opposites in that regard. He disliked being around other people, and he disliked conversation… depending on who it was admittedly.  
"It's. Different."  
"Different how?"  
She was looking at him again. Shadow averted his eyes to a rather attention grabbing leaf overhead.  
"It's. Sunnier."  
"Sunnier how?"  
He shrugged, feeling the conversation going nowhere.  
"Oh come on~. That's not an answer!"  
"Tch! That doesn't NEED an answer."  
"So?"  
"Why waste my breath for something that doesn't need an answer?"  
"Because it's fun! And it keeps me from getting bored. You don't want me to die of boredom do you?"  
"…"  
She puffed her cheeks haughtily and her fists went to her hips.  
"You jerk!"  
"What? I didn't say 'yes'."  
"But you didn't say 'No' either! Jerk!"  
Shadow met Amy's (mock) glare with a smirk, ready to finish their debate, but before he had been given the chance they were interrupted by a very familiar voice below.  
"Aww! Look at the lovely couple guys!"  
Amy beamed down to the blue hedgehog amongst their other friends; Rouge, Knuckles, Tails, and Cream behind him.  
"Sonic!"  
"Hey'a Ames; Sorry to ruin your moment, but I DO have to watch out for THAT guy over there. Ain't that right faker?"  
"Shove it HEDGEHOG!"  
"Tsk tsk tsk! It THAT any way to treat your best man? Whatever are we going to do with you?" He shook his head. "Oh, I know! How about a little song, eh Shadow?"  
"…You wouldn't dare!"  
"Wouldn't I??" He smirked up at the black hedgehog and cleared his throat mischievously. " SHADOW AND AMY SITTING INA TREE-!!"  
"DAMMIT FAKER!!"  
Shadow jumped out of the tree top like a bullet, and the two supersonic hedgehogs shot off in two blasts of sound; one hedgehog intent of violence and the other laughing his head off.  
The others watched in amusement before Rouge called to Amy in her tree.  
"Hey girlie! Come down here before we lose the bride! I didn't get my dress for a funeral you know."  
"Fine~"

Amy slid down the tree trunk happily and skipped over to her friends, grabbing Tails especially into a big hug.  
"I'm glad you all could make it! How was the trip you guys?"  
"Not too bad, but Bat girl over here was hogging the carriage." Knuckles grinned and gave a thumbs up to the pink hedgie.  
"Is THAT why you were screaming so much when we passed you?" Sonic appeared at Amy's side just in time for a miniature glomping from his old friend.  
"Nah. THAT was for what she was trying to DO to me!"  
Rouge rolled her eyes as Knuckles shivered as Amy and Sonic grinned at them knowingly. Tails and Cream however looked a bit confused.  
"What'd she try to do to you?"  
"It was HORRIBLE Sonic! She tried to-to get me into- A TIE!!!"  
"It wasn't THAT bad you big baby!" Rouge cut in humorously.  
"Oh yes it was!"

"Hey Sonic, where's Shadow?" Amy asked the hedgehog leaning on her shoulder as the Bat and Echidna argued.   
"Ah, he's over the-… oh. Hold that thought Ames."  
In a flash of blue Sonic was gone, only to be followed by another flash of black.  
"Those two…"  
"Yea, they're idiots aren't they?"  
The voice from above startled everyone in the group (everyone besides the tussling hedgehogs in the background).  
After all, who wouldn't be startled if a strange silver-furred hedgehog were to appear, floating over your head?  
"Silver! You're here too!"  
As the hedgehog landed in front of the girl he was promptly almost knocked off his feet with another glomping.  
"Guys, this is Silver! He's an old friend of mine!"  
He gave a shy wave towards the others.  
"Nice meeting you all."  
"And you also remember Sonic right?"  
The blue hedgehog had now appeared as a flash again, followed very closely by the black and red blur of Shadow.  
"Yea, and Shadow too."  
Silver sighed as the older male finally caught up with the blue one and now commenced in a fierce and childish brawl in the grass rolling around and throwing punches like kids on a playground.   
"Think we should stop them?"  
"Umm… yeah. Before they actually hurt each other" He grinned at Amy again as they approached slowly. "I'll take care of Sonic so you can get your hubby~"  
He winced painfully as Amy shot a VERY hard punch to his arm however.  
"Shut up Silver." She replied curtly.

"Heh. Isn't this so cute though?" Rouge said humorously as she watched Silver and Amy try to pry away the boys.  
"What? Sonic and Shadow fighting?"  
"No! Although it IS funny. Anyway, I'm talking about Amy and Shadow getting married! You know, I never thought Shadow would be the type to agree to something like this."  
"Well. He doesn't really have much of a choice does he? It's his parents who set this up right? And you know his mother…" The bat and Echidna shivered uncomfortably while Tails and Cream laughed at Sonic and Shadow. Silver had to resort to using his telekinetic powers to hold Sonic in a bubble. He was sitting with crossed arms looking pouty while Shadow, who was on the ground being berated by Amy as he glared up at the trapped hedgehog.  
"Come on Sonic, let's go see what the parents are up to huh?"   
"No way! Put me down! I can take him!"  
"I'll see you guys later after this one calms down okay?" 

Sonic's muffled voice echoed past the boundaries of his bubble as he banged his firsts against its sides and Silver waved behind him as he led the blue hedgie away. Amy was smiling at her old friends when she felt Shadow's arm being wrenched away. Now that Sonic was being put away, Shadow had no more reason to continue his childish behavior any longer, although he was still rather disappointed at his chance of finally silencing the blue irritation for good.  
"Hmph" He nodded to his 'associates' (As he was too determined and proud to never admit them being anything more) and turned off towards the more promisingly QUIET parts of the garden, and without another word he was on his way, hoping to find a place that WOULDN'T be filled with people who's sole purpose in his life was to give him a headache.  
"Hmm, what's HIS problem?" Knuckles asked haughtily, his hot-tempter flaring at being treated without enough respect for a proper 'hello'. Rouge held on to his back dread-lock to stop him from running over and starting ANOTHER disagreement.  
"It's okay Knuckles, he's just annoyed."   
"Well, that's not excuse for lack of common courtesy!"  
"Pfft! Since when has THAT hedgehog ever had COMMON courteously? We ARE talking about Shadow right?"  
"Fine then! I was just saying he doesn't have to be rude!"  
"And you're comparing him to WHOM exactly? You aren't the kindest man in the world either Knuckles!"  
"I'll have you know I am VERY kind!"  
"Yeah right!"  
Amy's sweat dropped a little as the couple began fighting yet AGAIN and idly she wondered if they all would ever be able to get together without an argument erupting, not knowing that at some point in the future the 'arguing' would be something she couldn't live without.  
\------   
"Come in!"  
After a few days of final preparations, including the rehearsal that evening, everything was set for a Mobian wedding. All the over-night guests had arrived and were rest, the servants were saving their strength for the big day, Cream had been put to bed hours ago, and now Amy was lying on her stomach in bed, reading to take her mind off things as much as possible. So far she'd been facing only minimal anxiety since her friend had arrived, especially from Sonic who somehow ALWAYS made EVERYTHING funny and had managed to distract her with his antics.  
Amy glanced up and was brought to attention and she realized it had been Shadow who'd knocked on her door as the black hedgehog slid into her room.  
"We have a problem." He stated without preamble.  
"What is it?"  
The female sat up, taking in his annoyed expression as he strode over towards her, and at his hushed voice. Obviously he did not want to be overheard. He paused a few feet from her bedside and hesitated, glancing towards the window uncomfortably.  
"It would seem that under some … unfortunate circumstances, we will have to depart immediately after the wedding."  
"What? Why? What's going on?"  
Shadow hesitated once more and caught his gaze on a very interesting picture on the wall of a very young-looking Amy. Somehow the picture did nothing but make him MORE uncomfortable. But there was a reason for his discomfort, and a pretty good one. Apparently one of the popular wedding traditions for noble families, who had enough status to support it, was the 'Holy' event of a public bedding to consummate the marriage process and assure to both families of there being no foul play.  
That, and Shadow was pretty sure that the idea of watching a young couple getting naked and in bed very much amusing.   
He turned his gaze back to Amy's face; her expression was of confusion and concern. For a moment he almost pitied the girl for having such a humiliating thing shoved into her future along with everything else they were being forced into. It was those reasons and more that made him even more disgusted with such a thing.  
After all, it wasn't as if he DIDN'T want to have sex with her; it was more about his other feelings that went against it. He was already uncomfortable at how the girl had wormed her way into a friendship with him against his will, AND NOW they were a few hours away from being married! He'd been under the assumption that after they got married they would be able to 'live happily ever after' at home in their OWN separate rooms for the rest of their lives. Of course, even then he'd been tricking himself, but now that it was being confirmed that he wasn't about to have it that way, he needed to find a way of avoiding being put in that situation. They could get married, yes, but he refused to end up in bed with his wife unless or untill he was good and ready to!  
Shadow might have seemed calm about his betrothal on the outside, but internally he was facing sever anxiety, as he was still dealing with the very same feelings that had caused him to despise the idea of their friendship. He had his Maria-associated problems, as well as his no knowing whether he trusted the girl he was engaged to, AND he had to worry that even if he were able to get over his fear of losing another friend, how in the world would he be able to get over the underlying sides of his personality that had only been enhanced by Maria's death? Even before Maria Shadow had been very introverted and inexpressive; He could never be capable of requiting Amy's overwhelming amount of care and compassion, so why pretend and lure her in if he knew he would never be able to give her more than his already inadequate amount of affection? The last thought more frustrated him than depressed him and his frustration brought back the reason he was even here worrying about this as well as a new determination; the 'event that he was dreading about was NOT about to become his defeat, and it would no longer be a further issues, because quite frankly it was NOT going to happen; He wouldn't stand for it!  
"Don't worry about what it is. Just know that we need to leave tomorrow immediately after the wedding has ended. But I would suggest packing up as soon as possible."  
"Wait, what?! Shadow, come on! Tell me what this is all about! If there's a problem, then let's try to find a solution for BOTH of us!"  
Shadow sighed. He already HAD a solution; get the hell out of their wedding before there was a PROBLEM. He told her as much too. However Amy was now determined to be included in the 'situation' and refused to back down. In annoyance Shadow decided he WOULD tell her: JUST to prove that he was right!   
"A bedding ceremony."   
"Umm… what?"  
"Our parents were trying to have us participate in a bedding ceremony after the wedding. I say were due to the fact that I completely refuse to take part in something that humiliating, AND I intend to prevent this from occurring"  
"Oh damn… I had forgotten that that happens sometimes after a wedding! Why didn't you tell me sooner! I could have been packed by now!"  
Amy grabbed her robe at her bedside and slipped it on as Shadow nodded: even if she wouldn't out loud, at least she had accepted that his way had been best.  
"I didn't say so because it won't be a problem anymore. Anyway, we'll be leaving as soon as the reception starts slowing down. I believe that 4 hours is enough time for you to socialize."  
"And how are we going to get out? I'm sure our parents would try to stop us…"  
"Since Lawrence will be on his way to Sceadwian Castle in the morning anyway, I've asked him to go ahead with our things before the wedding starts, and we'll ride over to the place I've chosen to rendezvous. Nobody will notice his helping us."  
"You really thought of everything didn't you?" She said in quiet awe, and Shadow let go a proud smirk.  
"That IS my job."  
"And where are we going to meet him?"  
He grinned mischievously, unable to prevent the whimsical jab even after his recently somber thoughts.  
"What? And kill the mystery and blow the surprise? How unromantic."  
At this Amy laughed and rolled her eyes, catching the view of her grandfather clock; it was almost eleven and she not only needed to rest up for the long day tomorrow but also pack up for their 'escape'.  
"Hmm, we better get to bed, or else there won't be a wedding at ALL tomorrow."  
"Hmph, I had been under the impression that such a thing would be a good thing for you; or are actually starting to ENJOY my company."  
Amy's face heated colorlessly and she wisely kept a straight face.  
"Well, I figured that if I HAVE to get married, it might as well be with somebody who isn't unfamiliar… or would want to rape me" she added as an afterthought.  
"Hmph! With you Amy, a man can't WALK too close to you without it being considered rape."  
"See! You actually get it!"  
"Hmm. Anyway, I shall take my leave now before you start thinking I'm in here to take your 'goods.' I'll tell Lawrence to come over for your things by 12'o'clock. Will that be enough time?"  
"Yeah it is! I've had my stuff packed for weeks; you know, in case I decided to run away."  
"Good. I'll tell him 11:30 then. Good night. I suppose I will see you in the morning… unless you decide to run away."  
He strode over to the door as Amy stood, yawning, ready to finish her new assignment, until she called over to him.  
"Oh, and Shadow?"  
He paused inside the bedroom doorway and looked back at her in the doorway of her closet.  
"Hmm?"  
"You didn't tell me about you: Did YOU change your mind about us getting married?"  
He turned his head away and hesitated as he thought about it, not quite sure what his answer was, and he continued to face away as he answered.  
"I don't know. But when I've found out, you'll be the first one to know."  
Without another word he walked out the room and closed the door behind him, leaving Amy to smile after him.  
At least he hadn't said 'no'…

xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An explanation on the 'Bedding ceremony'  
> I tried to do research on it: there isn''t much but I found this:  
> " At the end of the night, the wedding part would take the bride and groom off separately to get ready for bed. The women would take the bride to the bed chamber, where they would undress her, comb her hair, and then put her into bed, all the while giving friendly advice. The men would take the groom, who would undress and get into a dressing gown, and then they would bring him in to the bedroom, and make sure he got into bed with the bride. There would be a lot of joking and teasing; if there were a priest present he would bless the marriage bed for fertility, and then everyone would depart, leaving the bride and groom to consummate the marriage. "


	10. The Wedding

Thorns and Roses

White gloved hands clenched the sides of the painted vanity, nails digging into the wood as Amy hunched over before the mirror.  
"Okay Amy." She whispered. "You can do this."  
She looked up at her reflection and her pale forced- clam face dropped .  
"Who am I kidding! I CAN'T do this!"  
Everything had been fine when she had woken up that morning. She'd been calm as her maids greeted her with congratulations.  
She's remained clam when her mother was suffocating her teary-eye at breakfast.  
Even when she had been lead to the dressing room with the bridesmaids, including Blaze and Sally who'd arrived the morning before, she had been calm to the point of apathy.  
But it was a s soon as she had gotten into her own wedding dress and alone in her private dressing area when she looked at the mirror her whole mood chipped, cracked and shattered into a million pieces. Suddenly all the underlying anxiety and nervousness she had all but forced down for the last few weeks came crashing forefront.  
She didn't throw up, and she didn't burst into tears. But the pure force of the terrible emotions impacted her mind enough to kill her nerve and break every ounce of resolve she had mustered up since the day she had heard of the engagement.  
For a moment she felt as if she was being sucked into a deep dark hole, pressure coming from all sides. She could barely breath and he heart was pounding in her ears.  
She couldn't do it! She couldn't go down there in front of all those people her parent's had invited. She wasn't ready for this!  
She wasn't ready to leave her old home and her family! Or be married off to somebody who didn't love her.  
She looked around the room in a panic. She had to get out of here!  
She was just about to run out the door when it swung open, nearly scaring her closure to death.  
"Amy?"  
Blaze the cat peeked from behind the door to see if Amy was decent, and as she approached her younger friend she took in the tortured expression on her face and was instantly concerned.  
"Amy, what's wrong? You don't look so good…"  
"Blaze I can't do it! I can't go out there. I just can't!"   
Blaze hesitated for a good while at the whimper from her friend: Amy was always seen as the most carefree and happy person one could ever meet, so seeing her in such distress was unnerving.   
"What? Why? What's wrong with you?"  
"I just can't do it Blaze! I'm freaking out over here!"  
"Amy, calm down. I'm sure that it's very normal to feel nervous on the day of your wedding."  
"You think it's NORMAL for a woman to feel completely out of her mind?"  
Blaze shrugged.  
"I'm just telling you what I hear, but I won't know till I get married myself, will I."  
Somehow even in her time of panic Amy was able to pull humor out of this.   
"Make sure to remind me to introduce you to Silver then…" She shook her head painfully looked back at the mirror.  
Seeing her reflection brought a huge jolt of discomfort.  
The wedding dress she loved so much only served as a slap of reality.  
She was getting married.  
In less than a few hours.  
Her whole life was about to change.  
Everyone always said that marriage dictated how a woman was going to live. She would have no more of the freedom that her parents had always graciously allowed her.  
Shadow was also a lord of high standing in the court.  
She was sure that she would be expected to act as a lady; hosting extravagant parties and being forced to be poised and proper for groups of complete strangers; dressing up in those ridiculously uncomfortable gowns for every ball and social gathering; and not to mention the snobby first class pinched-nosed ladies that would come to call at every chance.   
She wrung her hands unhappily before plopping down on one of the sofas, and bringing her knees to her chin.  
"Ugh. Just look at me, match making at my own wedding that I don't even have the guts to go through…"  
While she buried her face in her knees Blaze walked over slowly, unsure exactly how to handle the situation, and to get out the way of the maids who'd just walked in.  
"Amy, you are not a woman, you're just a big chicken! No offense Langley," Amy said to a portly hen who was picking up articles of clothing left on the ground. The chicken looked affronted as she went back to her chore.  
"At least you're retaining a small bit of humor." Blaze remarked "But Amy, please don't worry too much. Aren't you always saying everything will turn out okay in the end?"  
"Ha-ha! Yeah. But that was before I came across a situation that probably won't turn out okay."  
Amy huffed, her bangs flopping up.  
"Are you worried about the marriage itself, or is it really Shadow? I'm sure he's a nice enough guy: from what I've been told we're pretty alike so he can't be that bad."  
"Hmph! That might actually mean that he IS." Amy replied with a very slight grin that melted off her face the next minute as she fiddled nervously with the final piece of her outfit: the veil.  
"You're so funny." Blaze said dourly, taking the veil out of Amy's hands and placing it correctly on the girl's head.  
"Why Don't you go sit on the balcony for a while until you've calmed down? You always feel better after getting 'one with nature' right?"  
Jumping for the change to get away from that mirror Amy nodded.  
"Yea… you're right. Maybe I just need to clear my head… You'll tell me when it's time to go right?"  
"Of course. You all didn't force me into this… dress, just for you to skip out on me."  
Amy flashed a quick smile and turned towards the wooden screen in front of the doorway that led to the balcony, taking up her white velvety skirts to keep her dress from getting wrinkled.  
Blaze shook her head and flicked the lights out before leaving. Maybe some fresh air would do them BOTH some good.  
She turned and headed out to the courtyard, closing the door behind her.

~~~

As she walked out into the sunshine she pulled at the collar of her white and purple dress, being careful not to rip it with her claws. She found the other bridesmaids in their similar dresses waiting around on the stairway, well away form the garden so they wouldn't be distracted by the guests who were socializing in the garden, but close enough to be ready for the procession to start.  
"Isn't everything so beautiful?" Mina the Mongoose was saying to Bunnie Rabbot, Sally and Rouge.  
"Yeah, lady Alicia and Lady Jasmine have outdone themselves! Just look at how the decorated the pagoda!"   
"The roses were a very nice touch"  
As Mina and Sally babbled over how beautiful everything was Rouge and Bunnie greeted Blaze.  
"So, how is our little bride today? Is she gushing over her outfit still?"  
"No. She was actually having a nervous breakdown. I sent her out though for some air though. I'm sure she'll be back to her usual bubbly self in no time."  
"Wait, you mean she' out and about? What if the groom see's her? That's bad luck you know…"  
Blaze laughed.  
"Nah, she's on her balcony, probably daydreaming. I'm not THAT careless."  
"You? Careless? At all?"  
The three women grinned at each other until Bunnie turned to Rouge.  
"How IS that Shadow-hog doin'?"  
"Oh, I'm sure he's off sulking somewhere. But I wouldn't worry much about him. He's perfectly able to take care of himself."

~

Shadow glared out the window of the borrowed dressing room, having already finished dressing, and now trying his best to relax. He was sitting on the window seat for the time being, graciously alone while the groomsmen were off either getting dressed or in Sonic's case making a nuisance of himself. His frown deepened and he struggled to keep his feelings calm in such an uncomfortable situation. He should have just run away when he had the chance, but it was much to late to turn back now.   
He let out a sigh, and as if on cue the one person in the world he did NOT want to see right now happened to stroll on in.  
"Hey'a Shads! How's our favorite whipping boy?"  
"Go away Sonic."  
Shadow kept his glare centered on the window unwilling to let Sonic get under his skin. However in his currently distracted state it was becoming very easy to push his buttons.  
"Aww, what's the matter grumpy Gus?" Sonic put his fists on his hips and raised a brow humorously. "You're not still made about the whole tainted punch thing are yuh? I SAID I was sorry."  
"Go AWAY Sonic."  
"Hmph. Rude as ever I see. But I don't think I WANT to go away."  
To prove his point further Sonic plopped down on the ground, crossing his legs Indian style and grinning up at the black and red hedgehog.  
With another sigh Shadow stood and glided to the door, pushing past a new-coming Silver without another word.  
"What's his problem?" the gray hedgehog asked Sonic.  
The blue hedgehog shrugged with a somewhat mischievous grin.  
He was actually surprised at Shadow's behavior today. The black hedgehog would have usually reacted more aggressively.  
He leaned back with a wide grin to take a short nap.  
He couldn't blame the guy, as surprised as he was.  
A wedding would make ANY guy nervous.

~

'Stupid idiot.'  
Shadow ground his teeth in slightly in annoyance as he walked through the castle of his soon to be in-laws. It was rather unlike his own castle in that this fortress had been built in a different type of environment. He's before noted how on this side of the castle, the hallways were darker. Desperate for a nice quiet space to clear his head he looked outside the window. The Garden perhaps?   
He dismissed the notion with a glance, it would be crowded with the wedding guests by now. He gritted his teeth and instead decided to make this easy on himself. He stopped where he was and turned to slip into the closest room, closing the door behind him.

He looked around at the room he'd wandered into. It was rather large, with a high ceiling from which a large but unlit chandelier hung. From the door he could hear the sounds of people talking and of birds chirping floating in from behind a large dressing screen. Behind the screen must have been one of the balconies that the Rose family apparently had a big attachment to. He raised a brow and made his way to the center of the room curiously. It looked like this had been used as a dressing room. There were articles of fancy clothing littered about the room, and his eyes caught onto several hair-care objects scattered about on the vanity. He stuffed his fists in the pockets of his suit as he frowned at the vanity mirror. He couldn't wait until this day was over…

"Blaze? Is that you?"  
""Wha!?"  
In surprise at the unexpected voice that had appeared from behind Shadow both jumped and stepped back in such shock that his foot met with the most inopportune type of object: the vanity's chair.  
CRASH!   
His eyes were spinning. He was halfway on the ground, laying with his back on the floor and his legs stuck in the air over the accursed bench. Not that this was his main priority. Who it was that CAUSED his embarrassing mistake was at the forefront of his thoughts.  
Shadow looked over to the dressing screen in utter embarrassment as the head of Amy Rose of ALL the people in the world, popped out from behind it.  
"Oh my gosh! Shadow? Are you okay?!"  
Shadow's face lit up from where he was sprawled out on the ground. This was only getting worse. He jumped back up on his feet.  
"I'm fine."  
He brushed off the black jacket of his suit and pointedly looked to the side.  
Amy tilted her head unsurely and walked over to him "Are you sure?"  
The darker hedgehog's face still resembled a tomato as he gave a nod, his hand brushing through his quills, and his trying to avoid looking at her.   
"I apologize. I was unaware that… you were in the room."  
"Oh, that's okay. I'm just glad you're alright."  
She looked around at the room and felt a sweat drop. It was messy in here still despite the maids having come in. She turned again to Shadow and smiled. Somehow her concern and the excitement had rejuvenated her. That, plus the secret amusement at Shadow's embarrassing fail. She tried to push away a smile by picking at a piece of her dress, but then her eyes widened as she realized something.  
"Oh!" She looked up and met Shadow's eyes in a sorta of shock, and his eyebrow rose.  
"I just realized… We broke the rule didn't we?"  
"Rule? What… rule?"  
With an amount of effort he kept his gaze on the pink hedgehog.  
"You know, that rule!"   
Shadow frowned, not comprehending, and Amy sighed as her fists met her hips.  
"Remember? The groom isn't supposed to see the bride before the wedding ceremony! That's bad luck!"  
For a moment Shadow paused in rubbing at his sore arm to stare wide-eyed at the young female.  
'Bad…luck..?'  
He snickered.  
The idea was so funny to him that he forgot his present situation, and was now grinning evilly. Only, his amusement didn't last very long.   
Amy kept a straight face, and her eyelids lowered halfway while she looked at her nails before uttering five deadly reminders.  
"You tripped over a chair?"  
As if by magic Shadow straightened up immediately and was back to his somber old self.  
"That's what I thought." Amy said before frowning at the black hedgehog.  
"And how in the world is bad luck funny?"  
Shadow smirked.  
"There is no such things as bad luck. The very idea that someone actually belvies in that sort of thing is… amusing.  
He shook his head.  
"You're such a child."  
Amy had her hands on her hips in the next moment.  
"I am not!"  
"Yes you are."  
"Nuh uh!"  
"Mhmm~"  
"Hmph! I'm not the one jumping into random rooms like a little kid!"  
Shadow was just about to refute this, his cheeks turning red, when Amy put up and hand and put a finger to her chin thoughtfully.  
"Actually, why WERE you running into random rooms for anyway? Shouldn't you be getting ready yourself?"  
Shadow was just about to answer this, but again he was interrupted, not by Amy Rose, but by the actual thing he was avoiding. Sonic  
"SHADOW! WHERE ARE YOU?"

Shadow jumped as he heard the blue hedgehog's voice from only a hallway away.  
"Shoot!!!"  
With a laugh Amy looked at Shadow's slightly panicked face and silently she pulled him over to the dressing screen and pushed him behind it to the balcony, JUST as the door opened and Sonic appeared, whipping his head around until he spotted Amy.   
"Oh! Sorry Ames! Didn't mean to disturbed you."  
"Hi Sonic! What's going on? I heard you shouting about something."  
Sonic scratched at his head, suddenly worried about what Amy would do if she figured out her groom was missing.  
"Aw it's nothing. Have you seen Shadow around?"  
"Umm, not for a little bit~" She said as she avoided looking towards the black hedgehog who as now cowering behind the dressing screen. It wasn't a total lie she supposed.  
"Okay then. Thanks!" With a worried glance down the hallway Sonic was off looking for the man missing in action.  
Amy and Shadow simultaneously let out a sigh of relief, but just as they had relaxed they were surprised against as Sonic came right back to the door suddenly.  
"Oh, and looking~ good~ Amy!"   
Sonic gave a wink and a thumbs up before disappearing again, leaving Amy grinning after the blue hedgehog.  
"Hmph" Shadow peered over to the girl, his hand under his chin contemplatingly from behind his dress screen. "Flirting even on your wedding day?"   
"Oh, that wasn't flirting." Amy strutted over to her vanity and plopped down on the circular cushioned chair before playing with her hair.  
"Anyway, what are you planning to do now that you got away from Sonic?"  
Shadow shrugged.   
"I suppose I'll stay in here until it starts. That is, if you don't mind?"  
"Nah, go ahead. I'll be stuck with you for the rest of my life anyway. What's another thirty minutes."  
She waved him down and he found a chair, setting himself towards the wall and leaning back to put his arms behind his head.   
The room went quiet save for the soft sound of Amy's hair brush and the distant sounds of people outside. The silence was actually not unwelcome: it was a comfortable and peaceful silence, that instead of making either hedgehog feel anxious or uneasy, it actually calmed them down.  
'Funny how that works…' Shadow thought as his eyes fluttered closed for a few minutes before he would once again have to get up and go down to his own wedding ceremony. Their wedding ceremony.

~~~

Knuckles the Echidna looked around curiously at all the people in the court yard. He, Tails, and Silver were relaxing in the shade of a tree, Knuckles was leaning against the trunk while the others tried to point out familiar faces in the crowd. . He could see the happy parents of the bride and groom chatting socially with the rest of the guests who were being led to their seats by the suited servants. In only a few more minutes they would be getting ready to give off their children.   
Already Mina the organist was setting down, putting her music up and stretching her fingers, and Ash the priest was now straightening up on the other side of the tree that Knuckles and Silver were sitting under.  
All they were missing was one of the two most important people of the wedding;   
The groom.  
"Where the heck are those two?" Silver mumbled worriedly. "You don't think they would skip out on this thing, do you?"  
"Nah, Shadow isn't THAT much of a jerk." Knuckles said. "…Is he?" He added with another thought.  
"Hey guys, have you seen Shadow yet?"  
Silver, Knuckles, Tails, and Ash all looked up at Sonic who skidded to a halt in front of them, and just as Mina began to play the precluding music.  
The four men began to panic!  
"No! We haven't!"  
"Oh man, what are we going to do?"  
"Shadow's parents will kill us if we tell them their son went a-wall."

"Ahem!"  
Sonic, Tail's, Knuckles, and Silver all turned on the spot.  
"Shadow! There you are!" Sonic exclaimed as the black and red hedgehog strolled over to his groomsmen.   
"We thought you chickened out for a minute."  
"Hmph."  
A twitch of his cheek showed Shadow's amusement before he raised a brow towards the alter, taking in the view of what looked like a hundred people seated in their white chairs awaiting for the start of the wedding.   
Around the chairs were long white ribbons, hanging onto the chairs, each with a purple and a pink rose holding them up. Down the aisle the altar was a beautifully constructed arch, decorated with pink and purple roses and white flowing ribbons and lace that blew around in the breeze mysteriously. In the front Shadow's father sat, a leg crossed over next to a vacant seat, and right across the aisle were two other vacant seats.

Shadow closed his eyes and breathed in and out through his mouth, suddenly aware of the time. The mothers appeared closure to the side of the castle, across from the groomsmen and followed by the bridesmaids. Ash the mongoose grinned and stood up.  
"Are you ready?"  
"As I'll ever be." Shadow mumbled back.  
"Good."  
As if on cue the preclude music was finished and after a quick nod from Ash, Mina was playing the familiar traditional processional music. The wedding had begun.  
Lady Rose smiled as she was escorted down the aisle by an usher who Shadow recognized as her trusted butler, Reeves. She sat down at the side opposite of his father and turned in her seat to smile at the next person.  
His own mother in her orange dress flowed down the aisle as well, looking pleased as she smiled at the other wedding guests, escorted by another un-named usher before taking a seat next to his father.  
As the mothers were settled Ash gave Shadow a slight wink before he walked down the middle of the white chairs and stopped at the altar to turn. He made it seem so easy, but now it was his turn.

Shadow took a very deep breath, and the world seemed to be going very slowly as he took his first step down to the aisle, followed closely by Sonic. He fought to keep his gaze situated on his destination, and it had everything to do with his nervousness. Somehow the image of hundreds of pairs of eyes surrounding him left him more uneasy than even the usual crowd would.  
People who his parents knew, and people he'd never seen before all staring at him as if expecting some great miracle to happen. He was also aware of his mother and father sitting in the front. It seemed like such a very long distance, and Shadow also couldn't help but feel those few moments as if they were many hours.  
His eyes down cast to keep the flush on his cheeks inconspicuously and he finally felt a great swell of relief as finally he made it past his parents parents-in-law, before stopping at the altar. But even as he turned around and Sonic has taken his place he still felt an overwhelming pressure of what he was about to do.

The next to come down the aisle was Sally and Silver as her escort. She smiled broadly as they walked down together and as the two stopped to take their positions at the alter, Shadow was momentarily amused as she winked her eyelashes towards Sonic, making the blue hedgehog squirm uncomfortably. Even Silver gave a low chuckle at this.  
Rouge, looking lovely as ever in her lavender dress only graced the crowd with a small smirk as she and Knuckles escorted each other. Knuckles was blushing very lightly, and Shadow was comforted a bit that he was not the only one who was horrible at being in the public eye.  
Blaze the cat as the maid of honor fared about as well as Shadow and Knuckles did. Although she was very much sued to being in attention, she also had a certain amount of self consciousness when it came to dressing up. When she finally came down the aisle she was the female closest to the middle, so Shadow was also able to notice her blushing.  
Tails was able to earn quite a few "Awws" from the crowd as he strolled down the aisle with his pillow, upon which the rings were sitting, gleaming in the sunlight. He settled next to Shadow without trouble, looking around excitedly, and then Cream was also a great crowd pleaser.

But then the music changed as the most anticipated part of the entire wedding began. Shadow's back tightened up and next to him he felt Sonic do the same. The guests all came to their feet as the wedding march went on and they turned around to face the oncoming pair. Amy and her Father.  
For a quick moment Shadow has been unsure that the girl coming down the aisle was Amy Rose. Somehow the Amy that was now standing with her father at then of the aisle looked even more beautiful than he thought he'd ever seen her. Her dress's corset was designed beautifully with designs of multiple roses, the top held up by four straps: two light purple ones on her shoulders, two pink ones hanging loosely around her arms. Going around her hips was a lavender ribbon that was tied on the right. The skirts of her dress were set into three billowing layers each designated by a pink, purple, pink ribbon.  
And even the simple white veil pulle back and held up but a silver tiara only served to underline her radiant smiling face. She looked as if she were glowing.  
As Amy and her father walked down the aisle Amy giggled after a glance to her father's face, being careful to keep hold to the bouquet of pink purple and white flowers.  
"Are you going to be okay Daddy?" She whispered secretly, smiling at the guests who were staring at her happily. Several of the lades in the seats were whispering between smiling lips to each other, and her mother down in front was already crying as she watched her daughter walk closure and closure, latching onto the arm of her father.  
"I-I'm fine sweetie" He replied, his voice muffled by the underlying emotions. He was trying hard not to think that she was actually about to go away: to leave them for the husband that they'd chosen for her. Why had they decided to marry off their only daughter!? At the time the reasoning had seemed valid… but now he could hardly bear it. After all, how much did they really know about their about to be son-in-law? Would he take care of her properly?The two of them had such a funny and unstable relationship.  
"A-are you sure you'll be aright?"   
He whispered to her while glancing at Shadow down at the alter.   
"You can always say no you know?"  
Amy giggled. Shouldn't it be the other way around in this conversation? NOW her father was deciding to get cold feet, just as she was beginning to accept the future her parents had laid out for her. The old worry wart. She smiled and squeezed her father's arm into a sort of affectionate hug.   
"Don't worry too much about me dad. I'll be fine!"  
"How can you be sure?" He asked turning to her slightly. Her was his own daughter telling him that she was perfectly fine with getting married when for the last half a year, she'd been screaming something completely different!  
"Well, I'm not completely sure. But I guess I'll have to find out right? After all, this would have happened eventually."  
She faced her father with a final smile as they crept closure to the alter.   
"Who knows. Maybe having a husband won't be so bad." a very mischievous smirk not replaced her smile and she nearly scared her father half to death. "At least I can make him buy me whatever I want."  
"…….." Her father felt his sweat drop. She was definitely her mother's daughter. Finally they arrived at the very front row of chairs, feet away from the altar, and Amy gave her father's arm one last squeeze before the paused just before the alter. The giving away part actually went smoother than Amy thought it would as her father place her hand into Shadow's without much complaint of hesitance and went to his seat to stand next to her mother. Amy could feel herself blushing as Rouge and Sally tired hard not to giggle at her on her left, and on the right behind Shadow, Sonic gave a very small thumbs up. But even behind her blushing Amy was very pleased to note that she wasn't the only one embarrassed slightly. As Ash went through the introduction Amy could see Shadow's face was also redder than his usual tanned color.   
And it deepened even more for both of them as the introduction finished and the two faced each other, holding each other hands. Somewhere behind her Amy heard a snicker and decide that later she would trip up Rouge while she was dancing.  
"Shadow, will you have this woman to be your wedded wife, to live together in the holy estate of matrimony? Will you love her, comfort her, honor, and keep her in sickness and in health, and, forsaking all others, keep thee only unto her, so long as you both shall live?"  
"I do" Came Shadow's husky reply, and Ash then turned to the bride who's hands he was holding.  
"Amy, will you have this man to be your wedded husband, to live together in the holy estate of matrimony? Will you love him, comfort him, honor, and keep him in sickness and in health, and, forsaking all others, keep thee only unto him, as long as you both shall live?"  
"I do"  
From the front row came a very loud sob as Amy's mother embarrassingly buried her face in a handkerchief as the rings that Tail's had been holding were held out.  
The ring ceremony also went without much trouble. The rings themselves were more resembling large golden wrist bracelets.  
"I give you this ring as a visible and constant symbol of my promise to be with you as long as I live" Was the ring pledge they both shared, as the golden bands were put around each other arm causing a slight glow as they were closed.  
Now came the vows.  
"Shadow take thee, Amy, to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part."  
"I Amy, take thee, Shadow, to be my wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part."  
Another set of sniffling now mixed into Lady Rose's sobbing as Shadow's mother began to tear up herself.  
It was hard to listen to the rest of Ash's words. He was basically giving them advice on their marriage. But then finally the last part of his speech got the attention of everyone in the area.  
"..That God hath joined together, let no man put asunder. Inasmuch Shadow and Amy have declared their love and devotion to each other, I now pronounce that they are husband and wife."   
Time seemed to slow down in that last moment as both hedgehog knew what was coming up next. But even as they looked at each other neither of them felt what they had expected;   
Amy even felt herself smiling widely despite herself.  
"You may kiss the Bride!"

~~~~~~


	11. Chapter 11

Thorns and Roses 

The darkness was starting to fade away. With every flutter of her eyelids Amy's vision grew and clearer and clearer until finally she could make out her surroundings.  
High above her Amy saw the orangish-brown of a wooden ceiling. A cabin?  
The green orbs lowered passed her chest and landed on huge double doors. They were opened only enough for her to see a nice ray of sunlight flitting through, but she could still not tell exactly where she was in the unfamiliar room. Slightly she frowned and rubbing one eye she looked to her left, only to gasp in surprise, amazement, and wonder.  
Immediately she shot up out of the bed, barely noting she had been in bed at all, and she ran to the larger-than-normal window, almost falling out with excitement.  
A scene so similar to Amy's last vacation to the beach with her friends met her eyes, making her heart flutter with pure delight. From wherever she was, Amy could see far over a vast jungle, all the way to the great mountains, and yet those mountains seemed so close she could have sworn that if she stuck out her hand she could touch them!  
Over the treetops the tropical birds glided in great bands together, some dropping out of the air to land in the midst of the vegetating, only to come right back once the group swung around another time.

Amy spent a few more moments admiring everything, when her mind met with a thought; how did she get there? Amy looked over her shoulder into the area of the cottage she'd skipped over, and she almost giggled as she was met with her answer.  
The other side of the cottage itself was the larger chunk of the building. One half of it was a complete living room; with half-wooden couches and chairs and tables on a nice big plush rug, and a bit further away, a couple of armchairs and a smaller coffee table placed in front of a large opened window, looking out over a white sandy beach with water so blue she could see through it from where she stood. And all of this was separated from a nice kitchen and dining area by a large gray-stoned fireplace. She would have to investigate the kitchen later however. At the moment she was more preoccupied by something else in the living room.  
Sunken into one of the large armchairs was a sleeping Shadow the hedgehog, her 'new husband' she thought with something of an affectionate twinge.  
In light of her recent discovery, somehow the thought of her being married, and even who she had to call her spouse, was not at all that bad. But maybe it was just the ocean air getting to her. Either way, Amy was well pleased.  
She realized how much work it probably had taken him to do all this for their honeymoon, and she knew for a fact that it was completely out of character for Shadow to have even made a step in the 'honeymoon' direction. She had actually expected him to completely skip over the celebration, only to go home and isolate himself from her as much as he possibly could.

Happily she refrained herself from skipping over to him, and instead tiptoed towards the chair … before she whimsically broke into a run.  
Shadow had just gotten around to waking up himself when instead he was woken up by a huge force. His eyes popped open, and for a second before the heavy chair and the object tumbled backwards to the floor, everything paused and all he could see was pink, In shock Shadow immediately pulled himself up to lean back on his arms and see what was going on, but then his eye met with a pair of bright, green, and happy ones of his wife.  
"Good morning Shadow!"  
For a moment Shadow tried to be angry; what kind of wake up call was THAT?! Was this girl TRYING to give him a heart attack first thing in the morning? But of course when he recognized her arms around him, as she squeezed him into a hug almost burying her face in his chest-fur, he found that he couldn't. And the fact that he could not only led him instead to embarrassment. He tried to look away from her face to stifle the heat coming out on his muzzle. They were too close for comfort.  
"Good morning, Rose-."  
He stopped himself as he was reminded of her name change. But the fact it was his last name that was replacing the old one made him uncomfortable. But he supposed that Amy herself was not used to the idea of her new surname as she smiled up at him and gave the subject no notice.  
"And to what do I owe this variation of a greeting?" He asked grumpily.  
At the reproaching tone Amy grinned and picked herself up off her spouse. She was too pleased with him to let his mood dampen hers. Instead she ignored his question and happily skipped over to the kitchen to figure out what she would have for breakfast.  
She was surprised when she entered the kitchen that there was still even more to the house. A part of the kitchen opened up onto a veranda, one side empty but looking over more of the ocean, the other side consisting of a nice sized pool surrounded by potted plants. Her smile broadened and passing the medieval version of a refrigerator she walked over and instead was distracted by the awesome view. She was actually so filled with excitement that she giggled, just as Shadow had entered the room himself after replacing the chair he'd been sleeping on.  
"I see you are pleased." He said lightly as he grabbed a cup and started to make his coffee. A part of him was content now that he knew his wife was happy. Embarrassingly enough he realized that yesterday as they rode to this place he'd been a bit anxious of what her thoughts would be. He'd been spared from her immediate response on the ride here though.; despite Amy being very accustomed to riding for a very long time, it was usually in a coach, and by the time they'd got here she was too exhausted to even move, so he'd had to put her in bed. Last night they'd rode hard straight from the wedding reception, stopping only once to change clothing. Shadow smirked at the looks of his parents faces when he thought back to their escape. The reception had been drawing to a close after all the guests had eaten as much as they could and danced to the point of exhaustion. And the parents were just about to launch their 'attack' when Shadow grabbed his bride from the dance floor ( she'd been having her last dance with her father) and the two ran like hell to the horse Shadow had had prepared maybe a hour before.  
Yes, he was quite pleased by how his plan had worked out perfectly.  
Geoffrey had even had all their stuff ready for them before their arrival.  
Amy glanced up just in time to catch Shadow's smirk before she smiled and walked over.  
"Hey Shadow? What are we doing today?"  
Shadow was pushed out of his thoughts once more and realized with a sinking feeling that already it was starting. Commitment. There was a long pause as he took a swig from his coffee, before finally responding.  
"There is a town on the other side of the beach. Or you can explore as much as you'd like. I'll leave you to decide."  
Amy poked at her lip thoughtfully then after a moment she exclaimed rosily that she wanted to go to the town, and immediately she ran to find her clothes and change in the large bathroom expanded from the bed room area.

An hour later the couple entered the town from the beach, Amy dragging Shadow by the hand. He was dragging his feet a little.  
Warily the black hedgehog looked around the shopping area Amy was leading him through, and to distract himself from the too-many-for comfort amount of people staring at them he wondered if Amy was the type of girl who bought everything she put her hands on. Although money would never be a problem for him, he DID dislike spending any more than he deemed necessary. Fortunately Amy was more preoccupied with seeing the place than grabbing new dresses.  
She pet the pretty horses of the passing officers while Shadow watched.  
She stopped for half an hour at a telescope to see as much as she could on the island before a bored Shadow convinced her that she would see the jungle later.  
Shadow was then forced to drag her away from the litter of puppies playing in front of the pet store, and no amount of begging would change his mind of not getting one. Although he did admit he was sorely tempted.  
She saved a mother from a day of crying by fetching her son's ball that had gotten stuck in a tree, while Shadow protectively waited for her at its base.  
The few stores they DID go into were mostly for old antiques; which Amy had a strange affinity towards.  
From the bookstore Amy got a nice-sized pile of interesting looking novels that Shadow decided he would sneak some away later for his own entertainment.  
After getting Amy and himself a cone from the ice-cream parlor Shadow was bullied into treating a little girl who'd dropped her own, something Shadow surprisingly could not mind.  
Later on Shadow was cursed out by an old gypsy woman who'd read both their fortunes; Shadow's fortune having something to do getting eaten by a whale. Needless to say he'd been unimpressed and voiced his displeasure as rudely as possible. At least Amy was pleased; it'd been prophesized that she had a long journey ahead of her.  
"Well of course! You told her we were from out of town before we sat down!"  
"You're just mad because you're going to be eaten by a whale."  
Shadow had nothing left to say on that.

Later on when the sky was getting dark, save from the very full moon, the two were sitting on a large swinging chair of the town's park. Shadow had gotten a pack of churros for themselves since Amy had not eaten much that day.  
"I would have gotten you lunch if you'd told me you were hungry." He muttered and Amy popped her last piece in her mouth, and snuggled around Shadow's arm, startling Shadow who had no way of escape.  
"Sorry! I was having too much fun and I forgot! Thanks" She added as he passed her the rest of his.  
"Hmph. I wouldn't be surprised if this happened frequently. Now I'll have to monitor you eating too!" He muttered, ignoring the hugging sensation.  
Amy grinned as she finished the last of the churro and giggled before hugging his arm tighter.  
"Hee, hee; you care~"  
As Shadow's cheeks heated up further and he looked away, and nervously scratched his nose with his finger. He didn't exactly WANT to. He glanced at the girl on his arm and inwardly he sighed as anxiety started to form up again. Although she was right, hadn't Shadow been trying NOT to care for her? If it had been a few months ago he would have been gone the moment she's started hugging him. Softly he nibbled on the inside of his mouth, careful of his fangs, and he decided that as soon as they got home he would make sure to renew his efforts of distancing himself. But he could hardly isolate himself on his honey-moon. That was actually the entire point of it.  
He looked down at Amy again and realized the girl was starting to fall asleep. Her expressing was peacefully innocent as her eyelids began drooping, and her breathing slowed up. She mumbled something incomprehensible, and nuzzled his arm sleepily.  
With a sigh Shadow decided he would have to wait for her to go to sleep before moving her, otherwise she would never fall asleep again. So he sat there for a few minutes staring up at the moon, mesmerized thoughtlessly until she was fast asleep, and after a few more minutes she was on his back being carried off towards the beach and to the cottage again.

\--------------------

"IT IS DONE!!"  
A loud dark booming voice echoed happily (if happy could ever describe such a voice) through every hallway, nook, and cranny in the castle, causing the entire structure to shake with an excitement to match the owner's.  
The crowd of soldiers in the room stared in fear and wonder at their leader, who was on his throne sneering into the air at something unseen to them.  
"S-sire?" On of his main henchmen inquired, unfortunately breaking the moment of pleasure for his Overlord.  
The Black Arms king now looked at his minion with an expression so opposite of the elation he'd felt only a moment ago.  
"What!?"  
"S-s-sir, y-you said 'I-it is d-done' s-sir, I-I just wondered-"  
"Quiet you fool! Your stuttering displeases me." Black Doom ordered with something of a frown. But it quickly changed again as he focused on his great victory once more. "However, I shall spare you for now for your interruption, as I have the greatest of news."  
There was a long pause in which the soldiers wondered if he would ever tell them exactly what this news was. Of course, some of the more experienced soldiers knew that their king would only tell them if he so choose. Unfortunately the soldier who'd spoken before was not very experienced or else he would have held his tongue.  
"And what is this great news sire?"  
Black Doom almost felt a vein throb in his temple. Why was it that he could never simply bask in his own glory and celebrate in his victory in peace? But that is what you get when you spawn thousands of children.  
"The great news is that my plan is finally being further set into place to take over that damned Acorn government."  
"Truly sire? That is great news! How have you managed to-"  
"Enough. I am in no mood for conversation. Be gone to your duties."  
At the command the soldiers picked up whatever they were doing and walked out of the throne room, shutting the door behind them.  
Alone on the throne Black Doom glared after the group. Alone at last.  
He closed his eyes and concentrated, frowning as he found the connection with the newest addition to his ranks.  
"Why good morning. General Décolleté" He said mockingly.  
And on the other side of the country the General Armand Décolleté stood in the shadow of his dormitory. He was a tall coyote Mobian with a grayed goatee and mustache, and now he was under Black Doom's control.  
The General, through Doom's control now looked down onto the moon-lit pathway in the gardens surrounding the castle. He could see a small procession of people, with the King and Queen in the middle. He glared down at them as the Black Eye crawled up from behind his shoulder.  
"You see them?"  
Armand nodded, his eyes glowing with an orangish red;  
"You know what to do."  
The Black Eye flew away into the darkness again, while the General continued to look down at his former king, leader, and friend. But now in his state of mind there was no such thing. He was blank to everything; his mind resembling now an empty black space, except to one idea.  
Killing King Maximillian, under Black Doom's orders.

\-------------------------

Shadow was propped up on his elbow under the cool shade of a palm tree, as he once more observed his wife with amusement. She could be seen in the distance playing merrily in the water, searching for ocean critters to play with. Unconsciously he picked up a handful of sand, letting it pour out his palm softly as he gave something of a rueful smirk.  
Even after their marriage Amy still managed to be just as interesting as ever; which was surprising as Shadow had always had the impression that marriage only ever made things dull. The marriage had done nothing to really strengthen their bond of course; but at least they were no longer fighting, completely, like cats and dogs. It was something of a difficult task as both hedgehogs were head strong and short tempered, and there had been a few tussles, but they managed well enough as they both had the same way of dealing with their problems with the other; pout on the other side of the room until the other gave in. It was usually the girl who gave up in those fights.  
He watched her as she shrieked happily and shuddered ,wondering whether or not it would be another sand-tiger shark as she ran out the water with something in her hand.  
"Shadow! Shadow! Look what I found!" she called as she skidded on her knees in front of him and held out the creature for him to see. Lazily he looked over the spiky water dweller and let out a small "hmm" as though unsurprised, but amused at her discovery. As he knew it would, her wide-eyed expression brightened excitedly as she assumed it meant he knew exactly what it was she was holding out to him.  
"Do you know what it is?"  
"Possibly."  
"Tell me!"  
The corners of Shadow's mouth lifted discreetly as he looked at her face. He had no idea what the hell it was, and he knew it; but he enjoyed playing around with Amy naivety.  
"I don't think I will."  
"What? Why not!?"  
Her beseeching look only added to his amusement, and he lifted his chin at her.  
"Tell me why I should."  
"Because it would be nice if you did!"  
"But since when am I nice? Do you not always complain about my -er- lack of 'niceness'?"  
"Well, maybe I wouldn't if you were nice to me; you could start now" she said brightly.  
"Hmph. Why should I be nice to you to meet your approval? You're the one asking for a favor."  
"Yes, but you want me to stop complaining of you not being nice to me."  
He snorted lightly.  
"I actually don't care what you say of me actually."  
"Yeah huh!"  
"I assure you I do not."  
"Then why do you respond if you don't care?"  
"Obviously to bait you. And it works every time."  
"To bait me?! What bullock are you going on about?!"  
"You see? You're falling for it again."  
"I am not!"  
"Indeed you are." He said gravely, and moved to scratch at his ear.  
"Ugh! All I want to know id what this thing is I found, and now you've gone and turned it into me getting frustrated!"  
"Nice to know I affect you so much." He said smirking, earning a hard glare from the petite female. He remained silent and stared lazily at her for a moment before she decided arguing with Shadow was a waste of her time. The sparkling excitement had left her eyes now.  
"Fine then! If you won't tell me, I'll just find out myself!"  
She stood up, and shook off the sand from her legs, ignoring Shadow's victorious smirk.  
"And where, pray tell, do you plan to find that out?"  
Amy, who'd already gotten a few feet away stopped. Then with all the childishness that was in her she turned around and very boldly, and frankly blew a raspberry at her spouse before turning and walking in the way opposite of their cottage and the town.  
"And where do you think you're going?" He called mockingly.  
She ignored him, and he chuckled.  
He thought as he turned back to the ocean unconcerned; He knew that soon Amy would be back to 'bother' him with something else that would catch her ingénue attentions. He leaned back in the shade, and closed his eyes.  
It was too bad that he was unaware that she would be back sooner than he expected.  
Amy's head popped out from behind a tree and she tired hard not to giggle. She thought herself very tricky for having doubled back as soon as she was out of sight and going through the trees in her approach.  
Now, her eyes glinting mischievously, she would find some way to pay Shadow back for his rudeness.  
She looked around, and frowned in disappointment when she saw no creepy-crawlies to user in her next trick. She poked her lip thoughtfully.  
She COULD try burying him in the sand…  
But no; Shadow was too much in tune with his senses, and would hear her.  
She COULD maybe drop a coconut on his head…  
But no; although she was hardly afraid of Shadow, she didn't think she wanted to see his wrath is she actually caused him bodily harm. He WAS a knight after all… and she would feel guilty afterwards anyway.  
She dropped that notion as well.  
Glaring at Shadow for his lack of vulnerability, Amy walked a bit further towards the cottage. What were thinks that Shadow didn't like?  
He besides annoying people, and being sick Amy couldn't think of much…  
"Ah ha!" She exclaimed as the idea hit her. Shadow, didn't like getting wet unless he had already decided on swimming himself. Cold water especially was not in his favor.  
Sneakily Amy ran up to the cottage steps, and grabbed a bucket that was near the door.  
In the last two days they'd been at the beach, only yesterday had been rainy, so the bucket was only partly full of fresh water.  
She went to the kitchen and poured the fresh water in a container for later, looking over her shoulder to the hedgehog on the beach every few minutes, and then after filling the bucket with water from the pool outside and dumping in ice from the freezer, she walked quickly back over behind the black and red male. He was still laying back silently and she grinned happily as she tip-toed closer and closer. For a moment she thought he'd spot her when Shadow turned over a bit. But then she was back to creeping closer as he settled down.  
She had just about reached him, and was JUST lifting her cold bucket when she was scared into a pause.  
"If you even THINK of dropping that water on me, I will make you pay for it."  
Shadow was now looking up at her, his eyes cold as she met his.  
He'd said it so quietly…  
Amy felt her sweat drop, fearfully contemplating her plan… and then….

There was a splash and a loud but happy shriek, and Amy was bounding down the beach as fast as she could, laughing despite herself.  
"Come back here you little ingrate!!" Amy's eyes widened in fear as she looked over her shoulder at her follower.  
"NO!"  
"I said come back here!"  
"I dun wanna!!"  
Amy jumped over a rock, on the beach and quickly dodged to the right to run right into the jungle; Shadow snarled deeper as he skidded a bit forward and just as quickly crossed over to follow the younger girl.  
'She's was hoping to throw me off through the trees' his instinct told him, and he went faster, his eyes staying on figure ahead.  
"You're not getting away with this!"  
"Eep!"  
She dodged tree trunk after tree trunk, almost falling on her face several times as she tried to outrun the noble male.  
Then he was upon her; in mid run Amy felt herself grabbed back with enough force to take her breath away. The she found herself in Shadow's arms, staring into his cold eyes.  
"Well hello my DEAR wife." He said icily, making Amy shrink back as much as she could in his grasp. Suddenly this game wasn't fun anymore!  
"W-w-why hello Shadow d-dear! I was just thinking about you, you know?"  
She stuttered nervously, aware that he was still both wet and cold.  
"Oh really?" He said coldly looking down at her pale face.  
"Oh y-yes!" She stammered "Really! I was JUST thinking of just how NICE, and KIND, and M-MERCIFUL you are!" She said with a tiny bit of pleading hope in her voice.  
He regarded her acidly as he turned back towards the cottage.  
"Ah! But that's funny' I thought I was known only for my 'meanest'."  
"Oh! But that that was an exaggeration you know."  
"No, no; I think it was an extremely accurate statement."  
Amy twisted in his grip, now panicking as she thought of what he would do to her now.  
Shadow was not at ALL a merciful person; his vindictiveness was too well known.  
"W-what are you going to do to me?" Amy whispered.  
Shadow didn't even glance down at her.  
"I say; what are you planning!?"  
Shadow started ahead, only smirking in a way that Amy certainly did not like.  
Amy played with her hands fearfully as she weighted her options. She could try running away again; maybe she was strong enough to break free?  
He sensed what was on her mind, and Shadow cut in to the thought.  
"Don't even think about it."  
"T-think about what sweetie?" Amy said in a mock cheerfulness.  
"Hmph."  
He ignored her attempts to distract him as they got closer to their home. Secretly he had no idea himself what he would do to punish her. He wondered if the ideas of what he could possibly do were punishment enough. But after a while he realized Amy's imagination must have calmed down; she was now playing lightly with his chest fur.  
"I wonder if I should dump you in the ocean; tie a block to your leg so you'll drown."  
He said. Amy sniffed and didn't look up; she wasn't scared of him.  
"It wouldn't do you any good; I can untie any knot if I want to."  
"Then why don't I leave you up a tree somewhere?"  
"I would just climb down."  
"I could trap you in a cave, and cover the entrance with a boulder"  
"I would just go exploring."  
"… I bet you would." He said gravely.  
She laughed and poked at his cheek undauntedly.  
"Shadow, where are you taking me tomorrow?"  
He frowned at her, now a bit more seriously at her informal tone.  
"Why should I take YOU anywhere?"  
"Because!" She said; "I'm your wife."  
He was a little taken aback to say the least. She'd said it so plainly as if it were the most natural thing in the world, although he himself was still immensely uncomfortable at the reminded of their connection. It was as if 'wife' were a dirty word that implied something else entirely from what he wanted with her.  
He wouldn't love her.  
He carried her into the cabin and set her down, and without another word left Amy to change and whatever else she wanted. Amy peered at him once, and felt a bit disheartened at the obvious change in behavior. Only a moment ago he'd been joking with her, and now he was acting as if she weren't there.  
"What's HIS problem?" she mumbled as she got out her bathing suit.

She found Shadow again later sitting on the porch, and frowned down at his back while he silently continued to sharpen his sword.  
"I'm going into town." She said hoping that he would acknowledge her. He simply gave a small 'hmph' and continued his work. She sighed and moved on, closing the front door behind her.  
In town Amy was pleased to find that everything was just as glamorous as they'd been last time. She got an ice cream cone to hold her over for the day, and first went to the antique store. After being greeted by the storeowner warmly Amy was pleased to look around and she found a few cute trinkets that she controlled herself from buying;  
A small glass paperweight of two doves flying around a big bejeweled heart, and a lovely wind chime with an angle in the middle. But her favorite was a big music box; it had in the middle a figure of two lovers dancing. She wasn't sure when she left if it had brightened or dampened her mood.  
After hanging out in the park, and playing ball with the kids there as discretely as possible to avoid stares, she went to a few clothing stores and declined a few storeowners of getting one before she settles on a beautiful white sunhat she fell in love with. For the rest of the day she tried to enjoy her freedom, and not be reminded of Shadow. At least not yet. But of course once she found that, she started to think more about him.  
She wasn't quite sure what to do with her husband. She figured that he was bipolar or something with how one moment he'd be relaxed and then the next moment he would act as if she had the plague. She'd thought that maybe if she was nice and friendly he would eventually come around, but as determined as Amy was to make friends with Shadow, she was unable to see any type of progress. It was disheartening to know that despite her wants to get along with her husband might never be realized as was being implied by their relationship now. She sighed and her eyes misted over solemnly. She cared too much about him. And she knew that her feelings towards him were completely unrequited. But she also knew she was forced to try. Otherwise the rest of her life would be quite miserable.  
So for now she decided that she would enjoy herself, and THEN she would give Shadow another go.  
She was happy to visit the town hall where outside the mayor was addressing a rather large crowd about some sort of celebration.  
She went to more stores to browse, but not buy, and she went on a short carriage ride tour the area. There she learned that the area had a popular monkey species, and sure enough during the tour she got a laugh when the conductor had his hat stolen.  
Afterwards she went to a wishing well to make some sort of silly girlish wish that she knew was completely cliché and stereotyped. It was still one of her wishes though.  
To follow up the latest line of activities she finally stopped back at the old gypsy to have one last fortune, since she knew Shadow wouldn't approve.  
"Why good evening Child," The old women said Amy walked past the dark purple blanket over her door. The inside of the gypsies shop was covered in large dark purple or red or blue curtains hung over the walls; charms of all types hung from a large chandelier in the middle of the ceiling; multiple crystal balls laid around on shelves behind the rather large circular table in the middle of the room, And finally on the other side of her sat the elderly woman, almost buried in many folds of large purple shawls and gowns and blankets before the table.  
"I knew you would come back."  
Amy's eyes widened a bit.  
"Really? How?"  
"My crystal ball knows, my child. I see that your mind is disturbed."  
The old lady had put the palm of her hand over the crystal ball in front of her, and she smirked although not unpleasantly.  
For a moment Amy was at a loss. She thought she had hidden any feelings quite well.  
But of course, she should have know THAT she couldn't hide; she was in the presence of a real seer.  
"Hmm, you a quite an unusual girl, Mrs. Hedgehog; most people would be more skeptical of an old fortune teller- and rightly so- but you are quite sure that I am the 'real deal' so they say. It isn't too much of a wonder however; after all, you are the granddaughter of another 'real deal'."  
She cackled when Amy's back straightened up and her expression turned serious.  
"But now, my child, I shall not disturb the train of event much further. You are here I assume to know more about your future; especially in regards to a certain love interest."  
Amy's face flushed vividly and she tried very hard to deny it, although she HAD wondered when she first walked in if she should have asked.  
It was too embarrassing!  
She tried to change the subject.  
"I-I, no; I actually wanted to know more about… about… about my cousin! Yes. My cousin Rob'o'."  
"You know very well your cousin is well. Why do you try to change the subject of your marriage I wonder…"  
"Oh, I'm not trying to-to change the subject… I just didn't want to know, you know."  
Amy looked away from the wise woman's face and picked at something at her skirt while the woman laughed.  
"You are a silly little youth, you are! But of course, most women are silly little creatures!" The woman rolled her eyes. "The problem with you youngsters is you don't want to know something in case it is bad news, but many times what you though would be bad turns out to be a blessing!"  
Amy's ears perked up, and she looked over to the elder suddenly.  
"Does that mean that you have good news for me?" She asked hopefully, and the old lady smiled suspiciously.  
"I think I shall not tell you if it is…" She looked at the ball and waved her hand over it lightly, staring into its depths. "Your marriage can be either very happy, or very destructive young one. How it will work out is very dependent you see…"  
"Dependant on what?"  
"That, I cannot say. I am just here to warn you."  
"UgH!"  
The woman smirked and asked if there was anything else after all Amy wanted to know, but by now Amy didn't feel like knowing more about her future.  
She left for now to wonder more about what the lady had said…  
\------------  
Later on Amy was inside the bookstore. She sat in one large arm chair by the store window with her feet up completely focused on the book in her lap. Around her were several shelves reaching for the ceiling, and next to her was a small coffee table where a small cup of tea stood waiting for her attention.  
The book was too engrossing for her to focus on her surroundings; it was a love story about a knight in shining armor, and a run away queen traveling the country to escape their troubles. She was right at the best part of the story when she was startled by something smacking against her head.  
"Huh?" Her eyes flickered up, past the gloved hand resting on her head and into her husbands face as her squinted at the book in her lap.  
"Hmph. Back to your novels again Rose?"  
In surprise Amy stared for a moment then beamed up at the taller hedgehog. He eyed her steadily under dropping eyelids but turned his head tilted and away towards the window. He then replaced his palm with his elbow on her head, much to Amy's annoyance.  
She frowned and tried plucking her finger at the limb.  
"How'd you know I was here?"  
"A lucky guess." Shadow said nonchalantly, although in truth he searched half of this god-forsaken village with something akin to concern. He knew that Amy could be something of a ditz, and he fully expected her to loose her way one of these times.  
But he wouldn't want to give the impression that he cared or anything.  
Because he didn't… sort of…  
His eyes did a sweep over the immediate area for any danger that might arise. It was a habit he'd developed in battle, as well as simply any other occasion that made him uncomfortable. When they stopped on a bright white box next to Amy his brow rose, and Amy's who'd happened to look up caught the look and smiled once she found what he was staring at.  
"It's nothing suspicious Shadow" Her voice made his ears jump up. "Just a hat I found."  
His brows rose then fell in acknowledgement, and then he yawned.  
Amy saw the movement and smirked.  
"Tired Shadow? Maybe you need another cold 'shower'?"  
"Hmph."  
Amy went back to her book and there was a pause in conversation for a few minutes until Amy wanted to talk.  
"So, did you get over your anger then?"  
He glanced over, meeting her gaze.  
"What do you mean?"  
"You know; back at the cabin, you were acting all angry and ignoring me and stuff! The water thing was just a joke…" She mumbled, picking at the edge of the page unconsciously, and Shadow let out a chuckle only to make her temper rise.  
"What's so funny?" She said viciously turning her face away. With a smirk Shadow patted her head and leaned to look over her shoulder, making her blush and her back straighten.  
"You are most amusing Amy…"  
She turned her head, ready for a rebuttal that never escaped her lips; instead they were met with his very unexpectedly. Her eyes were wide even when he broke away to lean on her chair and play with his nails. It was then that she realized she was clutching at the skirt of her dress a bit roughly and in embarrassment she buried her face in her book again, making Shadow smirk at her.  
"I don't see how I'm funny." She muttered behind the pages of the novel that she was trying so hard to focus on.  
"That's not saying much." He replied easily then mumbled "You miss quite a lot…"  
At the curious glance she gave him he added,  
"And I was not angry by the way; Quite the opposite actually."  
He looked off out the window distantly, but not uncomfortably.  
"I suppose you haven't forgotten to eat correct?"  
At the mention of food Amy's stomach growled, and Shadow felt his sweat drop even as he fought a grin. His wife WAS amusing.  
"Come then, my air-headed child. I can't have you passing out from starvation. Just think how that would look in a town of strangers?"  
Amy was instantly ruffled;  
"I am NOT an airhead, and I'm NOT a child." Came her indignant reply as she set down the book and grabbed her hat box. "And I could careless how you'd look too." She mumbled, although she knew it wasn't quite true.  
Hearing the remark, Shadow rolled his eyes and led the way out of the bookstore. He folded his arms behind his back and lazily scanned the buildings surround them while Amy caught up.  
"Do you have any place in mind Shadow?"  
The black hedgehog shrugged negatively and Amy brightened as she took it as up to her.  
"Can we go there?" She asked, pointing across the street to a fancy looking restaurant;  
All day as she passed, it had teased her with the succulent smells that floated in the air surrounding the peach-bricked building.  
After eyeing it for a second Shadow gave a noncommittal shrug before he found himself being dragged by the arm towards the eatery.  
"Hooray! Let's go!"  
The restaurant was surprisingly pleasantly for Shadow, despite his usual policy to stay eschew of large crowds. The two sat at the front windows where Shadow had insisted for quick escape and the full view of the room. He was leaning on the back of his hand with his elbow on the table, looking out the window uninhibitedly. Amy on the other hand was unable to contain a bit of her excitement;  
She looked over at the other couples cheerfully, taking notes on the different people she saw.  
Some of them were so strange;  
There was one couple that consisted of a very plump richly dressed woman with a small poodle in her hand and her husband who was also rather plump, but much shorter and obviously much intimated by the woman he sat next to. There was a small little elderly couple that Amy couldn't help but obsess over; they sat side by side, holding each other's hands while that sat in comfortable loving silence. There was then a younger couple; two teenagers who'd obviously save up JUST enough to have this date, and were so passionately cuddled up with each other that Amy had to look away with a giggle.  
She glanced up at the black hedgehog across from her happily.  
"Hey, Shadow? What are we going to do tomorrow?"  
He looked over to her and yawned.  
"You tell me."  
"Auh~ but I ALWAYS decide! What do YOU want to do Shadow?"  
He smirked.  
"I was under the impression that you enjoyed bossing me around."  
He thought for a moment, ignoring Amy's exclamation; where DID he want to go? They only had another two days before moving on towards home.  
"Oh! And Shadow?" Amy interrupted his train of thought for a moment, "Where did the horse go?"  
Shadow frowned; "I'm surprised you haven't found it yet. He's at the stable towards the end of town."  
"Oh!"  
There was silence once again. Amy sipped at the drink in front of her uncomfortably.  
"Exploring."  
"Whut?" Amy looked up in surprise at the black hedgehog who was frowning uncertainly.  
"I should like to go exploring." He said plainly.  
"Oh! Okay! Cool!" Amy said cheerfully. And she brightened a bit; "We could go all the way to the mountain, and-and play with the animals, and then we could find a cave and-"  
Shadow smirked once again as his wife went on to list as many possibilities as she could, and lightly he wondered if she would ever stop her cheerful rambling.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story that I began in 2011, and after years of loafing I am finally coming back to finish.


End file.
